Zero Hour

[Bjorn]

"Don't get me wrong," Bjorn says, quietly, as he steps through the gate opening and makes his way confidently towards the Dreadmarch herald.  "I want the back-up.  But you've got a nasty habit of letting surprise carry you away, and I suspect we'll need to be delicate here.  So just be big and scary-looking, and pay close attention to what he says, and what he does."

[Rezantis]

Rez nods, and they walk quietly for a few seconds.

"Do we intend to let him walk back to the dreadmarch after we talk to him?"

[Brian]

The man continues walking towards you -- he's about four hundred meters away at the moment.

[Bjorn]

"If we can kill him, then doing so wouldn't accomplish much," Bjorn points out.  He grins, coldly.  "And let's see whether or not I can touch him, mm?  Regardless, no point in deciding that yet.  Let's see how the parley goes."

[Rezantis]

"I don't know, from what Gin saw he seemed fairly high up . . . capturing might not be bad, if we can, though they may expect that."

Rez continues walking quietly.

[Bjorn]

"The Dreadmarch aren't fools," Bjorn says.  "If they thought we could take this man out, then they would be certain that it wouldn't affect their plans overmuch.  Well.  We'll see what we'll see."

And with that, he falls silent, as they get closer and closer to the man, aiming to stop just out of his combat reach.

[Brian]

You continue walking until you're about ten meters from the man, who doesn't appear to plan on stopping any time soon.

[Bjorn]

"Hail," Bjorn says, simply, putting himself directly in front of the man.

[Brian]

He pauses, and looks at Bjorn like he wasn't expecting to see him there, then frowns a bit.  "Huh," he says.  "You shouldn't have left your home, little boy."

At that, Bjorn is slammed to the ice and thrown towards the wall of Stormwall keep at an unsettling velocity.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn rolls to his feet, Breke's blades in his hands in a flash.  He doesn't bother with witticisms, but simply moves in to attack.

[Rezantis]

The moment Nathan sees Bjorn go down, he charges forward and attempts a move-through - since his sword is already in his hand, and all. He should try this no-scabbard thing more often.

[Brian]

You rush past him -- and hit.  As your sword goes into his chest, he reaches out and grabs it, jarring you to a halt, as the blade refuses to let go of your hands.  "Not bad," he says.  "Heart's up here."  Blood is pouring from the wound, but he earnestly corrects your angle, "And push hard to sever the spine," he adds, forcing your blade through his chest, out his back, and then collapsing to the ground, releasing your blade.

Off towards the wall, Bjorn has skidded to a halt and regained his feet.  He's still a good fifty meters away, though; you suspect one of the loremasters helped him stop.

Bjorn: You're dizzy, and feel a little out of it -- what he hit you with reminded you an awful lot of that Archon you pissed off.  But you're okay, and the ice mysteriously slowed you down before helping you to your feet and turning back into snow.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn shakes his head, cleaing it just in time to see the man's little performance.  Drawing his swords and breaking into a run, he makes his way over to Nathan, keeping himself alert and ready.

People who pull swords through their body, he suspects, are the sort of people who get back up again after.

[Rezantis]

Rez promptly chops down to remove the man's head - and if successful, kicks it as far as possible that-a-way.

[Brian]

Rez succeeds in decaptiating the man and kicking his head away.  The man is standing nearby, looking at his own body with clinical detachment -- neither of you saw a second one, or saw him reappear, but he's there none-the-less.

"Fascinating," he says.  "Now, little boys, back to the keep before your hurt yourself," he says, gesturing dismissively.