Forums » Fantasy Roleplay » Raid of Aftbide (Open)

Merthyr paused at the noises in the distance, hand quickly resting on his sword, daggers to the sides ready, as he pulled the cloak further forward.

"Who goes there?!" shouted out loud and demanded, used to issuing stern orders and commands being in charge of the king's knights.

Tara jogged and then ran after the blind man once again; if she closed the gap between them she'd try to place a hand on his shoulder. "Wait!" Unlike him, the warrior had no way of telling between the shadow in the trees and the bandits that continued to plague Aftbirde.

When Merthyr shouted the stranger in the trees abruptly stopped, the trees in which they hid going entirely silent. Their vantage point granted them limited sight of Tydfil but his attitude and accent encouraged the stranger not to seek his attention.

Kerik tilted his head at the orc, as if to say, 'really?'. It seemed that even if Drake were the most sadistic of torturers on that side of the mountain the bandit was not going to lose his smarmy attitude. "mmph."

"If I have to trouble myself finding you, I will show no mercy at all. I will give you no retreat or quarters and you will fall at my sword" declared Merthyr annoyed at the skirmish.

"Step forward and I might spare your neck" demanded Merthyr as pretentious and confident as usual, entirely new to the concept of failure

Merthyr paused when he saw Marcello seeing nothing more than a hooded and helpless blind.

"Ahhh... by my word that I didn't expect such an encounter..." sighed Merthyr putting the sword away and lowering his guard at once, unaware the blind one was travelling with company and so trying not startle the youth

"I mean you no harm, my friend. I can help you to the village if you like, it is not too far from here" offered Merthyr in a more calm and friendly voice having pity for the unfortunate.

"You need no worry about me, there's no such things as magic creatures anyways " shrugged Merthyr coming closer to the blind one

Tom looked like he was about to protest the unwinding of the bandages but at the doctors stern tones, he reluctantly kept his mouth shut and moved his small hands away from the small sheets of cloth. When the doctor unwound them he would find the inner layers all stained with a deep crimson which was quite clearly blood. The blood itself was crusted and obviously not fresh meaning whatever wound was below was not inflicted in the last few days. The scars underneath was still vivid, roughly a week old, running in three neat lines down his face starting above the eye and running downwards to the cheek.

What was striking though was the milky eye underneath, one that had sustained near total damage from the attack which had viciously scared the child and left it with just one eye. Tom didn't speak, but merely allowed his one remaining eye to gaze downwards, not wanting to see the reaction.

"Were you the person in the trees?" He asked cautiously; Marcello was probably lucky his hood was up, only his pale skin and red eyes were visible, "I dont want to go back to that village, those bandits would likely kill me. We Albinos aren't exactly too welcome, when your bones and hair are said to bring wealth to those who have them." He hadn't moved to step forward, clutching his staff in his hands. And since the man hadn't mentioned Tara, he made certain to keep quiet about her, not wanting him to try and attack her, "As for magical creatures, sir, I'd be careful denying their existence. The fae in these woods aren't too friendly when faced with that sort of opinion."


"Even half blind," the doctor began, standing to get a washcloth, "You should not be wandering these woods. Blindspots do exist, child. Had a bandit snuck up on that side, you would've been dead." He wiped away the blood from the scars, healing what tissue was unscarred, and then began to rewrap the bandages. He had seen much worse, even on children.


Drake did the only normal thing he could at this point, which was unbinding one of Keriks arms and biting him. Hard. Which, with his two tusk-like teeth, made the bite a probably horrific injury. He pulled away, blood still covering his mouth, but he had a hard frown, "You don't taste as good as some of the humans I've eaten, even for a bandit. Probably an alcoholic."

"Do not speak of such nonsense and myths. Magic does not exist" stated the warrior categorically "grown up men know better than that" shrugged Merthyr.

"I wasn't aware there are bandits in the village... how did that happen? or better still when did that happen?" quizzed Merthyr alarmed at the revelation

"At the castle lord Ton Pentre made no such mentions...." muttered Merthyr thoughtfully to himself "Are you certain of this?" asked Merthyr louder

"If what you say is true these scoundrels could be upon us at any time at any rate" muttered Merthyr feeling weary

Tom looked up at the doctor before returning his gaze to the ground. As he felt the skin on his face begin to heal the child slowly began to allow his muscles to relax, pouring out all of the tension into the air. After listening to the doctor's admonishment he meekly replied to try and justify himself. "I know Mister, yet where else could I go? My family is dead and my house burned, so I picked a direction and ran and ended up here."

Merthyr tried to get closer to Marcello in a friendly manner, somewhat trusting the blind wanderer, but his composure far more alert and watchful in case of assaults or sudden attacks.

"Where are you travelling to? Are you wandering alone?" asked Merthyr concerned unaware of Tara's presence

There was only so long that the warrior was willing to wait near Marcello and Merthyr before deciding to announce her presence; she didn't appreciate how the newcomer was so quick to try and bring her albino friend under his wing, especially with that debate regarding whether or nor Marcello's ilk was 'real'. "Ser." The warrior stepped, casual as she might, out of the woods near the man she'd been previously following.

"This man and I are not alone. He was investigating something outside our... camp." She glanced at Marcello apologetically-- perhaps he didn't mind her mentioning the camp, but she thought it sure would be awkward to explain all the people that resided within. "That something is still at large, so I suggest we return to safety."

Actually, Kerik's screams were muffled so none outside the camp were likely to hear them. He did squeal though, squeezing his eyes shut when the orc bit him. He watched his blood dribble onto the grass and contemplated his life choices before replying to drake with a strained. "MHM!" Agreeing that he did not, in fact, taste good.

"Pardon... madame... I had no idea you were also hiding here. My apologies for the inappropriate closeness." excused Merthyr leaning forward and lowering the forehead a little in a light courteous bow to greet the lady accordingly.

"See, the traveller made no mention of any companions..." excused Merthyr right away
"As for noises outside, it probably was the wounded rider that has just passed us by" shrugged Merthyr

"Now then, are you one of the bandits that has apparently taken over the village in the vicinity?" asked Merthyr hand resting on the sword ready to strike if she was so

"After all he was running away from the village, for all I know you only came to the chase to drag him back." accused Merthyr suspiciously

((Yo, Tsuitala, please try to avoid controlling Marcello. He is blind but its very unlikely he'd let a strange man hed just met touch him or guide him somewhere. Also, im working, so please give me time to respond as I can't stay on my phone very long))

Without working eyes, he could only roll them so much, but Marcello's exasperated tone was enough to convey the emotion, "Sir, with all due respect, Im not a helpless child. I'm fully capable of realizing when a herd of bandits attempt to kill me, blind or not. As for what we were following, that was certainly not the rider. It didnt smell like blood...perhaps it was sage...?"
The young half demon sniffed around the air again, trying to relocate the scent of what he had been following.


"You're lucky to have survived." The elf had no pity for the child, or anyone for that matter.


Drake laughed, shaking his head and wiping his mouth on his sleeve, "Ah, you're quite entertaining, little outlaw."

Merthyr put the sword away stepping aside to let the warrior woman continue with her companion

"Well, I did not notice much but I guess in my haste I was not paying due attention either. My apologies madame, young sir, I bid you a safe journey" saluted Merthyr stepping away from their path so their could continue their unusual search.

"You might find herbs and sage further ahead, there were some by the corner over there" supplied Merthyr calmly continuing the journey no longer feeling obliged to protect the blind wanderer

"If I may so bold as to ask... what sort of camp were you referring to?" paused Merthyr as he ran the conversation and events through his head

Tom sat up after the doctor had finished tending to up, before running out of the tent, giggling playfully as he moved. The child would dash about the camp for a while, only pausing to stand in front of Katja and give her a gleeful wave. To any observer who had seen the previous limp it would be clear the young boy was enjoying the sense of running without pain to the fullest. For a while, he began a game of jumping in and out of the magical circle around the camp before deciding to explore the camp.

Eventually, he decided to play a game of peeking into tents, just to satisfy his curiosity of what was inside each one. Most he found rather dull until he came to peeking inside the one Kerik was being held. There he went straight inside before speaking up. "What's going on in here misters?"

Tara wrinkled her nose as Merthyr grew suspicious of her. It was a relief then when Marcello provided a bit more context, and being that she already was suspicious of him she took a step closer to the albino man. She smirked despite herself at the mention of sage nearby but neglected commenting on it. "Perhaps I spoke too much, too soon. Who are you? You don't sound like a brigand, yourself."

Kerik kept his eyes shut, his arm trembling uncontrollably as it bled. It was hard not to panic or cry out again but he suspected the orc would only revel in more shows of pain. Then he saw the boy. His eyes widened. Despite the fact that he was still bleeding he actually waved with said hand at Tom; as though nothing were wrong. "Hm!"

"I'm ... no one of importance, just running some errand for the lord of the castle... I was actually sent to look for some militia operating near here but clearly I'm out of luck these days. Not sure if I would want such luck as to find them anyways..." shrugged Merthyr speaking cautiously and vaguely dropping all knightly like manners

"Not the plant, sage," He grumbled a bit, but he didn't expect such a man to understand his wayd of identifying people. However. At the mention of the militia, Marcello's face lit up, "The Knights of the People and Lady Katja! They're the ones who saved me!"


Drake frowned at the child, "What, is Katja babysitting now? Scram, brat." The orc growled, obviously not a kid person. It was hard to imagine why Katja would've even let a creature like Drake into her militia.

"So you have heard of them at least... any clues of their whereabouts? I don't intend to stay among them long at all, their cause is not my cause, I just want to deliver a word or two on behalf of lord Tron Pentre of Aftbide and I'll gladly be on my way" assured Merthyr

"Uhmm... just indicate where I might stumble into any of its men and I will settle for that, best to not even know where they happen to be stationed" guaranteed Merthyr clearly reluctant about finding the camp altogether

"I don't play well with others for the most part anyways" admitted the solitary adventurer

The child looked up at the or,c then down to the bleeding man, before back up at the orc again. His single eyebrow furrowing in deep displeasure at the sight in front of him, at first it looked like he was turning to go. Then he made a sudden pivot and dashed in front of Kerik, positioning himself between the two in the room, arms outstretched in a protective manner. "You've been hurting a defenseless man mister orc, that isn't right!"

Tara stared at the man, not buying into his claim of unimportance in the slightest. She decided not to make a fuss out of it, instead pointing back over her shoulder with a thumb. "A little bird tells me there are interesting things just behind us." That was her admittedly silly attempt at tipping the man off to where to go. "Mythical creatures, and the like."

Kerik meanwhile gawked as Tom took his place between him and the half-orc. He let a muffled, displeased noise trying to chide the young boy into leaving. It wasn't very forceful as the bandit was starting to get seriously dizzy. Slowly, the bandit stuck out his legs, trying not to incite anything in a clearly tense situation.

Marcello huffed, but opted to stay silent in the situation.

Drake snorted, and then laughed, reaching down and picking the child up by his shirt, bringing their faces to the same level, "This 'defenseless man' is one of those outlaws from your village. He attacked Lady Tara, and later the blind traveler you saw," Which was technically a lie, all Kerik had done was fall on Marcello, but he could spin the story in his favor. Not like Kerik could speak. "His injury is because he didn't think us Orcs ate people. So I proved it to him."