Harold hung back in the shadows as his compatriots dealt with taking out the guards. Weapon hadn't been raised once and a combination of factors were responsible. First things first the surroundings needed surveying and if anyone else came around the corner from taking a piss out back he didn't want all of them to have their cover blown. Second was a much less practical factor as the survivalist had been struck by a moment of realization that, hey being a mercenary probably meant he had to kill people.

"Fug I'm stupid. " Saying it out loud to himself he drew in a deep breath and sighed it out the nose. He hadn't thought this far and part of him had been swept up into the deal with the assumption that they would be fighting more explicitly evil things. He wasn't exactly a stranger to killing other people either, just in those situations it had been a much more black and white matter of survival. Sucking on his tongue the internal battle of morality raged with the same intensity of a constipated cow trying to push out a patty. His face was entirely blank until Tugg put the last man down.

"Baaaaaaaah. " As the two guards fell dead he began to run toward the building so he wasn't left out of anything interesting inside. He practically tripped on himself reaching the sight of both kills and looked around. "Can't right leave 'em out here like this..." Groaning as he leaned in to inspect the smear a button popped on his vest thanks to the generous amount of food eaten earlier. Stowing away his crossbow he started to reach for the flatten mans largest chunks that had survived the Ogre grade tenderizing and hesitated. "Eeeyuck..." These weren't exactly boar guts or dead rats so handling them was a different affair. Deciding to deal with it later he steps in and is immediately grateful for the distinct lack of bodies within. "Uhhh, I'm gonna try and cover our tracks outside real quick. " Ducking into the sleeping quarters he stole a bed sheet and hustled outside to use it as a ye olden trash sack to collect the loosest pieces of remains. Even while bloody these were still some of the cleanest sheets Harold had ever personally gotten to handle. Chucking that bit of mess into the bushes he drags the other body out of sight and begins kicking a liberal amount of dirt and leaves over the blood stains and other signs of battle. This would consume most his time and probably deny him any input in planning. Though on the off chance that they still had time to kill he would mosey back into the office, and without any restrain, begin rifling through whatever paper work, drawers and other containers were present. Killing a man was one matter, that carried a bit more weight than just stealing, scavenging as Harold preferred to call it was something much less burdensome on the soul. As in he didn't care.

Mariah saw the guards take notice of their presence and yelled out to the Derrick and the other soldiers, "Focus on getting what you came for, Xiucoatl and I shall take care of the guards." She then raised her shield and charged at the first guard knocking him off his feet. She then began a small exchange of blocks and parries with the other guard and his sword. After a few seconds, he blade found home as it slid across the guards neck. She then refocused on the guard she had bashed with her shield and quickly put an end to him, driving her blade through his heart.

<Group III - Tournament> @Keidivh

"It is not that simple," the Knight replied, "My Lord believes the heresy runs deeper than just one man. Even now, the hunters are gathering evidence for our claims because as you probably know, it is most important to root out every possible weed and leave none hiding so the corruption may spread later on."

"The noose tightens and I, Arnold of Obelheim, swear that the man who killed your friend will not live to see the next dawn. However, we cannot attack the man right now unless we want to blow our cover. Thankfully, both me and you, since we have been enlisted as participants in this tournament can fight our way through and meet this Sentinel in the arena. The best four warriors will fight in the final grand melee, me and your friend's killer have already reached that stage, and the third one is fighting for it as we speak. That leaves only you who didn't reach it yet and in order to do that, you must beat your next opponent."

"Remember, in arena everything is allowed, which means that when you reach the finals you'll have free hands to do whatever you wish with this Sentinel and I will be there to help you with it. Just remember brother, you must keep your temper until then least whoever is working with our enemy suspects that something more is going on."

OOC he is telling you all of this because you are a warrior priest of Ulric and he believes you have experience\can help with rooting out heresy (in case you were wondering why did he approach you).

With the fighting going well thanks to her Doombolts once again proving handy despite the Bright Wizard charging in like the Orc, Alozia took the opportunity to take out two of the guards to help ease up the opposition before they got the bright idea of ganging up on their attackers. Even if two of them were capable of magic, which pretty much nullified the Guard's numeric superiority.

So the Druchii began her attack on the Guards, approaching the first one and swinging the blunt end of her staff into his legs, breaking the guard's leg which distracted him from her dagger that was then lodged within one of his eyes, Thankfully, she had forced the blade hard enough that the blade reached her foe's brain to mercifully render him dead rather than suffering from such a wound, leaving her free to pull out the dagger from it's resting place in the newly made corpse..

Then came the next opponent, another guard with a sword and shield who attempted to swing the sword at her, only for the Sorceress to jab the bladed end of her staff through his throat while he was mid swing, leaving the foolish human to choke to death upon his own blood as his sword arm dropped the blade and clutched at his wounds, in a vain attempt to staunch the bleeding. Naturally, he soon toppled onto the floor thanks to the wound.

(OOC: Killed two of the Sword + Shield Guards, @Colapse )

@Colapse

"Now what makes you think I have a temper lad?" Kristoff asked, a savage grin growing across his face at the prospect of being able to slaughter this black knight in the arena. He would ensure it would be a grueling and humiliating defeat, and send his soul to his damned masters.

"I shall see you in the final round Sir Arnold. And when the Sentinel lies dead, I'll see to it that you and Lord Schwarzhelm find this source of this corruption and tear it out by the roots."

Eager to face the Sentinel, Kristoff immediately made his way back to the arena to take care of whatever poor sod decided to stand in his way.

Tuska tilted his head in confusion at the sudden arrival of the firey lady who ran by him screaming and charged into the other gits. Not wanting to be out done and also not caring enough to question it further he quickly followed her into combat screaming a mixture of curse words and gibberish in the usual orc fashion. He didn't even bother making a show if the kills now as he swung his axe again aiming for the head of one of the guards smashing his head through sheer force. The was turning out to be a strange night for him as he fought side by side a lady that appeared to enjoy being on fire.

<Group I - Diversion> @matt23 @BuriasDempsey @TuskatheDaemonKilla @Maleth @Virgil_Corbec (@Casavay )

Ebba's sword once again caught up proper fire and the Bright Wizard had no trouble taking out both the halberd and couple of seconds later, guard's head as well. Around her, Tuska and Alozia dealt with the rest of the resistance in quite a quick fashion while the final two guards died as Captain York and his men opened fire from afar. The door was open to enter the insides of the warehouse and they did just that.

Inside, they found that Mariah, Xiuhcoatl, Derrick and the rest of the gang took out those inside and also lost one of the men, who the Captain spoke proper rights to speed his passage into the realm of Morr. While he did that, one part of the group took all those workers and tied them up in one corner in case they start getting some bright ideas once they wake up while the second group started going through the parts inside the warehouse to try and find at least some sort of a working artillery equipment. Sadly, it turned out that almost every piece was dismantled into lesser parts and mounting everything up again was not going to happen any time soon. It would seem that their luck ran dry until one of the soldiers cried as he opened one of the bigger crates near the side entrance.

"Well well, would you look at that," York laughed as he removed the tarpaulin and spare wood to reveal something every Imperial general and many of foreign ones would give their left arm to have in their army - a working Helblaster volley cannon with enough ammo to level half of the Baron's guard if used properly (and if of course, it didn't explode in the process). "Knight Mariah," the Captain turned as he finished inspecting the weapon, "We'll have this working and ready to go in ten minutes," he kept it sharp and went back with his men to find a cart for ammo and strong ropes to pull it towards the Baron's ship which thankfully, wasn't really that far out.


OOC didn't want to push a lot this time, leaving you room to get some words in if you want - how to deal with the workers or say hello to Ebba. In any case, I'll push us (faster - if you post\say you want it) towards the ship battle with my next post.



<Group II - Infiltration> @Jorimel @Grall_Stonefist @DeranVendar+ (Constantine)

While Khelandria entered the growing shadows, hiding herself next to the bunk bed closest to the door and ready to strike, Tugg sat on the ground inside the armory across from where the Witch Elf was and out of the way but his reach long enough to catch anyone who would enter the guardhouse.

Harold on the other hand, busied himself with trying to find some valuables in Guard Leader's desk and drive away his thoughts from moral implications of killing a fellow man. Inside the desk he found couple of gold coins, a small knife looking more like a letter-opener and lots and lots of pieces of paper with various orders written upon them. It was nothing that he would pay much heed to if not for a single piece of dried parchment that strangely caught his attention. At first, he saw the ink was red and that the letters were of no language he ever saw in his life, looking more like some sort of gibberish than anything else really. But then as more as he looked at it the more did his eyes started to hurt, followed closely with strong pain in his temples.

It was actually enough to daze him for a second which was enough for him to miss hearing the voices outside the guardhouse and the door opening as two figures entered the place.

"I'm telling you sir, the message was genuine," the first person said, a man in heavy chainmail armor carrying a small mace at his belt. "Makes no sense...why would von Beringer ask for me to come here, especially now?" the second person replied and everyone saw the man talking now was the man their mysterious friend Didier told them to capture - the Leader of the Guard himself.

"There is so much going on and us being here..." he then spotted Harold at the table and immediately drew a longsword from his scabard. "Who the hell are you? Explain yourself!"



<Group III - Tournament> @Keidivh

Kristoff found his way back into the central chamber quickly enough, leaving Sir Arnold to return on his own. Announcer greeted him happily and pointed him towards the exit into the arena itself, telling him that his next opponent was already waiting on him. Sure enough, the Wolf Priest obeyed and once he entered the arena for the second time today, he saw even more crowd gathered in the stands, cheering for both him and the combatant in front of him.

His new opponent was a far cry from the Knight of the Blazing Sun he had the honor fighting against in the previous round. This man was short and of a lean build, dressed in a mix of leather armor and simple clothing. He was also bald and had a nasty scar running the length of his skull all the way down to his neck. He was armed with a dagger in one hand and a short sword in another, making him some sort of a duelist.

"Ah, another northern barbarian?" he pointed with his sword on Kristoff, his accent betraying him for a southerner, possibly an Estalian, "What a shame. I thought Manuel De Santos' blades are worthier so they would be crossed with a more civilized foe and not some illiterate dog lover who smells on stale piss!"

He then dropped into a stance, sword in front and dagger in the back, grinning at Kristoff. "Come then, you like to charge yes? Then charge away!" he kept with taunting, letting Kristoff do the first move.

Kristoff 0 - 0 Manuel De Santos

~Tournament~
@Colapse

Generally, Kristoff wasn't one to let his temper overcome him. Well, that wasn't true, but he generally wouldn't let him do something foolish in battle. But loss had a way of making one ignore sense and act off of simple rage and sorrow.

This Estalian was an entirely different beast than the knight he had faced previously. Unlike him he had the potential to be a true challenge, and likely wasn't afraid to fight to win by whatever means. But the only thing Kristoff saw was the Sentinel, bashing in Pierre's face into a fine pile of gore.

"And I thought I would no longer have to deal with Southroners who spewed piss from their mouth instead of actually fighting! You want me to charge boy? Your prayers been answered."

A wild and savage look had set itself on the Wolf Priest's face as he charged forward, letting out a fearsome warcry as he brought his hammer to bear, ready to let it reign down in a flurry of blows

OOC: Bloodlust: The Wolf Priest is infused with a lust for battle and attacks wildly, increasing strength and speed if effective

Xiucoatl only eyed the multi-barreled monstrosity from a respectful distance, never having seen this kind of 'cannon' before. "By the Old One's, what is that thing?" The wary Saurian asked those around him, not sure if he should have his shield up or not. He has been told before a cannon can explode, which didn't help him right now. He almost wanted to prod it with his sword just to test it, but it seemed the veterans and Captain York took it's presence as a boon more than anything.

Harold sat up bolt straight in reaction to being called out. It was a welcome distraction from the paper and the haggard looking man would play right along with it. He was deeper into familiar territory now, lying to the authorities and worming out of a bad situation! It helped he had a crazy Elf woman and an Ogre backing him up.

"You'll be answerin' to me fug ya very much! I'm H-.. DAROLD! Darold the Deviant Slayer an I've got a lotta questions for you! " He held up the letter, hoping that perhaps it would have a similiar headache inducing effect upon them. He didn't really consider that they probably wouldn't be able to make out the contents, or that possible corruption might render them immune. "What is this devilry I have been forced to read in my quest for JUSTICE?"