Turning over a new leaf (Praetorum)

[Nathan Wolfgang]

36th of Ymiden 721, Zynyx Market

Nathan leaned on the wooden railings of the ship’s deck. He was still adjusting himself to the cold misty morning after having been uprooted from his warm bed to move to a smaller ship to be able to pass through the Zynyx River.

He took a deep breath and sighed. Taking a nel out of his pocket and with a flick of his fingers tossed it into the water.

“Guided by the iron hand.” A disdain could be heard in his voice. In truth, it’s hard to let go of thirty arcs of traditions and cultures that have been ingrained in your mind. He stared at the coin as it disappears into the blue water.

“And here I thought you’ve forgotten about home,” Dimitri said as he leaned on the wooden railings next to Nathan. “Beautiful isn’t she?” Dimitri said as he nods his head at Rharne.

“Beautiful but like fire, she’s a fickle mistress,” Nathan replied.

“Well, still better than those gloomy mountains and that iron-handed geezer,” Dimitri replied, he then took a piece of cigar and proceeds to light it. He then took another and offered it to Nathan. “She’s still asleep, too much of that sweet cake thing.” He replied to Nathan’s hesitation.

Nathan took the cigar, lit it, and puffed a cloud of smoke.

“Now I understand why that geezer is always grumpy. Talk about leading and managing hundreds of heads, lack of water, and those gloomy mountains, and here we are fifteen heads. Should’ve been swimming in nels right after all those jobs we took since we set foot here?” Nathan said as he blows another cloud of smoke.

Dimitri chuckled. “Brother, there’s a lot of new things to experience here, and well we get by with the money we make, as soon as we get another client, and don’t forget that bottle of Thunder Chianti waiting back at the Rosemerta’s.”

“We need another client to cover our expenses for this coming trials,” Nathan said as he threw another nel into the water. “But it’s hard looking for clients when we are an unknown band of misfits who are suspiciously armed to the teeth.” He continued.

As the Zynyx market comes into view, Dimitri straightens his back and gave a firm pat on Nathan’s shoulder. “We’ll look for a more consistent benefactor once we land.”

The captain of the ship could be heard ordering the crews to prepare for docking at the Zynyx market. Nathan watched as the passengers began disembarking from the ship. Strangely enough, the majority of the ship’s passengers consists of foreigners, aside from the crew who are from Etzos, Nathan and his group dominate the demographic profile of the ship’s passengers. Nathan disembarks the ship along with Dimitri, Vincent, Annie, and the other Ironridge deserters. Dimitri took two Ironridge-born and went ahead to get their reward from the client. Vincent was also nowhere in sight probably spending his nels on a bottle of alcohol. Annie tugged his arm and pointed at a nearby empty stall. Nathan motioned the rest of the Ironridge-born toward the stall.

“Aye ya bloody fucks, what do you think yer doing there?” Shouting could be heard. Nathan looked at the source of the sound. A mountain of a man, a bottle of alcohol in one hand, and a club in the other hand. Nathan paid no attention to the man. “Oy, ya deaf boy?” The man said as he walked toward Nathan. The other Ironridge-born stood up with hands at the ready, gripping their sheathed weapons.

“Ya think I’m afraid of ya lot? Just because there’s a lot of ya? Not to mention you’re just a stone’s throw away from ya castle. Think I’m afraid of that lizard? Tell that lizard to come out here and fight me!” The man continued shouting as he drew closer to the group. Nathan straightens his back and walks toward the man. They stood face to face. The man raises his club to swing it at Nathan, but Nathan stood still. It was only for a short trill, the man turned around and something hit the man. The club dropped on the ground as well as the bottle of alcohol as a flurry of punches were delivered at the man’s face. After several punches, the man fell to the ground.

“He was drunk,” Nathan said

“Yeah I know, good thing he was drunk. Don’t want to fight a guy that size when he’s sober.” Vincent replied as he picked up the bottle of alcohol.

“Silas! Silas!” A young man came running and knelt on the ground beside the drunk guy.

“He’s not dead,” Vincent said.

“I’m sorry, my brother’s been bitter ever since he lost to one of you guys in a brawl. But hey, we’re grateful for you guys, the market’s been a bit safer having a mercenary company nearby. No need to worry about what might come lurking from the Stormlands.” The young man said.

“Sorry kid. I’ll tell it to the guy that your brother met.” Nathan said.

The young man with the help of his other friends carried his brother back with them.

“What was that?” Dimitri said as he approaches the scene.

“A potential benefactor,” Nathan replied as he pointed at the castle across the river.

Nathan, Dimitri, Vincent, Annie as well as the other eleven Ironridge deserters then cross the river in a barge and made their way inside the castle.

“Looks like the mini version of Ironridge, right?” Annie said as the group passed the gate and observe the massive training yard.

“Massive training yard, dummies, targets, stables, people practicing on the training dummies, and those sparing with one another, sounds about right kiddo” Nathan replied.

Nathan then approached someone carrying a stack of woods.

“Hey, we’re looking for work, who do I need to talk to?” Nathan asked.

[Praetorum]

Prae watched quietly as Valbjorn and Ricky sparred, swords clashing back and forth in a vicious dance. Ricky was the more nimble of the two, Prae noted idly, but Valbjorn made up for it with a steady heart and a sturdy shield.

“Don’t trade accuracy and stability for speed, Ricky,” Prae called out. “You keep getting overeager and end up extending yourself too far.” Neither man said anything, too busy with their spar, but Prae was pleased to see Ricky start fighting a little more cautiously, though no less enthusiastically. It had been a while since the Yari had been able to properly let loose.

Idly twirling his own quarterstaff, Prae wondered if he should suggest they both fight against him at once. He wanted to see how their teamwork was, given how well the two men seemed to have gotten along since meeting. Perhaps if—

“Hey, Prae.” The staff in Prae’s claws stilled as he looked down, finding Liv’ana at his elbow. The Sev’ryn nudged him lightly. “Look.” She nodded towards the entrance of the keep.

Prae followed her gaze, and blinked in surprise. “Well. You don’t see that every trial,” he muttered. Over a dozen humans, rugged and well armed to a man, had just walked in through the gate. “What do you think? Local mercenaries?”

“Maybe,” Liv’ana said. “Never seen this lot around the Market though. Want me to go check them out?”

“No need,” Prae said, watching as they stopped one of his men. “Looks like they’re coming over to us.” The mercenary raised a hand, and pointed directly at Prae. Seems they were looking for him.

Gently waving Liv’ana off, Prae approached the group. As he did, he scanned their faces and body language for signs of hostility or annoyance, and found none. What he did find, though, was that they all looked to a man at the head of the group, perhaps a few arcs older than Prae himself.

Prae’s eyes lingered on the golden line that crowned the man’s brow, muzzle twitching into a brief smile. “A Krorros.” Hopefully that wouldn’t cause any problems. He nodded to the man politely. “What brings you and yours to my company?”

[Nathan Wolfgang]

Nathan’s eyes follow the person’s hand as the person pointed in Prae’s direction.

“I get why that drunk man was furious. But hey, I’m smart enough not to fight someone bigger than me, well if I’m sober that’s it.” Vincent said to Nathan and Dimitri.

“Stupid drunk man, of course, he would get his arse kicked.” Annie chimed in.

“I’ll be the one to drag you out of here myself if you start a scuffle with them,” Dimitri replied

“Shut it, we’re in their territory,” Nathan said to Vincent, Dimitri, and Annie as he saw the Ithecal approach them.

The Ithecal seems to be observing us, should I’ve just come here with Dimitri and Vincent and leave the rest to wait at the market? I’d be wary too if a group of strangers armed to the teeth came knocking by. But judging by the Ithecal’s physical posture, the Ithecal won’t have a problem taking on all of us alone. Nathan thought to himself as he unknowingly was staring at the Ithecal while lost in thought. His attention was brought to the present when Dimitri nudged him and motioned at the Ithecal.

Nathan nodded back and held his hand out for a shake. “Greetings, the name’s Nathan. So, we’re mercenaries from across the sea to the west, and just arrived in Rharne sometime early this season.” Nathan paused and considers his next words carefully. After a few trills, he continued, “Well we’ve been informed regarding a mercenary company here by some of the merchants from the market, and well to put it bluntly, we’re looking for work. Hard doing business when you’re a foreigner right and so I want to ask if there employment opportunity by any chance?” Nathan said to the Ithecal.

[Praetorum]

So, not locals, but mercenaries, as Prae had thought. All the way from the western continent, apparently. But the one who spoke didn’t have either a Melrathi accent, nor an Etzori one. Prae didn’t remember the other countries on that continent, save for the lands of the Aukari and Lotharro, of which these mercenaries were neither. 



“Praetorum,” he said as he shook Nathan’s hand. "A pleasure to meet you. If it's work you're looking for, we're always recruiting. Although we don't normally get a group this large all at once." He tapped his muzzle. "Do you know how long you're staying in Rharne? Is this a stopover on a longer trip, or are you hoping to settle here permanently?" Depending on his answer, Prae might have to figure out how to integrate this group into the company. He understood that small groups of mercenaries tended to form tight bonds, but Prae wouldn't tolerate disharmony in his company. The last thing he wanted was for these mercenaries to hold themselves separate from the rest, if they planned on staying long. 



Nodding, he gestured for Nathan and his mercenaries to follow him. "Come, let me see what you all can do." He led them towards an empty part of the training courtyard. "What sort of combat do you specialize in, as a group? Ranged, melee, stealth; offensive, defensive, balanced, that sort of thing. I'd like to know where to place you all in our company."


"And you, Nathan," Prae said. "The Empress's favour is a strong commendation in itself. But I'd still like to see what sort of leader you are." As they passed where Prae had been standing earlier, he plucked his shield from under the tree, and slung it onto his back. "Pick out four or five of your warriors, and we'll see how you fare against me."

[Nathan Wolfgang]

“Well, that’s why it’s been quite hard looking for a job with a group this big and being a foreigner too. Yes, we are looking for work.” Nathan replied as Praetorum shook his hand.

“Well the thing is that we aren’t planning on going back to the western continent, and after several trials here, there’s so much to love about this place-“

“Far better than home.” Annie chimed in.

“Far better than home,” Nathan repeated the words. “Well, somewhere in life we gotta make the choice right? A fresh start.”

Praetorum gestured them to follow him.

“Well, well, well. Ain’t that bring back memories, looking at that smug iron-handed geezer’s face while being tackled to the ground by dad,” Vincent commented as Praetorum showed them the empty training yard.”

“Shut it,” Dimitri said as he slapped Vincent’s head in the back.

“Well, sorry for his behavior, he tends to get excited if it involves fighting,” Nathan said. “Well, the thing is our members are a bit of a mixture in that category, but most of us are trained in melee combat. For our battle style, we tend to adjust to the situation, but we mostly go on the defensive and if there's another group fighting together with us, we’ll mostly switch to go on the offensive while they go on the defensive. Most of us are trained to be adaptive to the situation, it’s just most of us preferred frontal assault to stealth. But that’s a learning curve.”

Nathan stood his ground as he heard Praetorum mentioned The Empress. He looked at the ithecal. “You’ve met her too?” Nathan asked. As Prae plucked his shield from under the tree and slung it onto his back and asked him to choose four to five of his warriors.

Vincent moves toward Nathan and pats him on the shoulder, “You ain’t gonna make me sit this one out, right?”

“Of course not,” Nathan replied, he then looked at Dimitri and two other Ironridge-born. “Dimitri, Leon, Anton with me.” He then walked over toward Annie.

“Well worst-case scenario, you take care of the rest of them. Just don’t go back to Ironridge alright?” Nathan whispered. Annie nodded to her brother’s question.

Nathan turned toward Leon, Anton, Dimitri, and Vincent. “So if it’s five against one, then Leon, Anton you guys flank his left and right. Me and Dimitri we’ll take turns attacking him, try to tire him out if it’s even possible. Vincent, as usual, up close to him, but be careful. If it’s a group battle then use the spearhead formation like in that cave against the Lotharro and Aukari, Vincent taking the middle part.”

After briefing his fellow Ironridge-born he then made his way toward Prae, “Well here it is, the five chosen one. So what are the rules?” Nathan asked.

Off Topic

Flavour NPCs
Anton – (15/100) Polearms & Staves, (15/100) Strength
Leon – (15/100) Polearms & Staves, (15/100) Strength

[Praetorum]

So, they were staying long term then. Prae could work with that. If this Nathan proved a competent leader, and Prae had no reason to think he wouldn’t, he could keep this group together as a third squadron under Nathan’s leadership at first, and then migrate members around as their strengths became more obvious, and as they grew familiar with the rest of the company.

“A fresh start,” Prae repeated softly, thinking of his own flight from the empire, arcs ago. He nodded. “I know what that’s like.”

“I have,” he said when Nathan asked about the Empress. “Though anyone from the Eternal Empire would know that mark, and respect it, whether they’d been blessed enough to meet the Empress or not.”

He waited patiently for the Krorros to select his group, considering how best to test them. “We’ll fight five on one. This isn’t a mock battle or a competition—my goal here is just to get a better sense for how you work as a group. That means I won’t be aiming to knock any of you out of the fight, so just keep going until I call for you to stop. If you want a goal, let’s say… try to land as many solid blows on me as you can.”

Prae patted the leather armor he wore with a smile. “Don’t worry too much about hurting me—this looks like leather, but it’s as good as plate armor.”

Rolling his shoulders, Prae settled into a fighting stance in the middle of their part of the courtyard, quarterstaff in both hands and his shield on his back. “And, begin,” he called. Immediately, he saw the group move to surround him—a fairly standard opening maneuver in a situation like this.

Prae started off defensive, just warding off attacks from the five of them with staff and shield, both to get an initial feel for their abilities, and to lull them into a false sense of security.

Then, abruptly, Prae changed tactics, going on the offensive and knocking Leon to the ground with a well placed sweep of his tail, before moving past him to break out of their encirclement.

[Nathan Wolfgang]

“The Eternal Empire? Hope to visit it someday.” Nathan said as he readied his fellow deserters.

“It's better to work with a goal in mind,” Nathan replied as he grabbed his sword and his fellow Ironridge-born began forming a circle around Prae, while still keeping their distance. “Is that right? Where could I get one? Being in plate armor gets tiresome after a while.” Nathan commented as Prae patted his leather armor. As Prae rolled his shoulder and gets into a fighting stance the rest of the Ironridge-born followed suit.

“Begin,” the Ithecal said. Nathan gestured the others to slowly close the circle formation on Prae, with the initial plan of attacking him from all sides. Dimitri was the first one to strike, he didn’t strike hard, just as they have discussed earlier he was using it to gauge Prae’s movement. Then Nathan strikes at Prae with his long sword followed by Leon, Anton, and finally Vincent.

“So earlier you mentioned the Eternal Empire. What’s it like?” Nathan said as he strikes in a sequence following Dimitri. Feeling that they have the upper hand Nathan looked at Leon and Anton and nodded, gesturing for them to get closer. Nathan hasn’t counted on Prae’s tail, and with a sudden shift of motion from being on the defensive the Ithecal switched to offensive, breaking the rhythm that Nathan and his fellow Ironridge-born have set. In a blink of an eye, Leon was swept and fell to the ground, Prae then broke out of their encirclement.

“Wall!” Nathan shouted. Dimitri, Anton, Vincent broke their circle formation and formed a wall in front of Leon. Nathan helped Leon up.

“Vincent, switch,” Nathan said as he handed Vincent his long sword and he took Vincent’s spear.

“What now? Apparently, despite his size, the Ithecal is light on his foot.” Dimitri asked

“Yeah keep up the formation, I’m thinking of something,” Nathan said. Dimitri with Anton and Leon by his side keep their weapons up and pointed at Prae while keeping a close formation. After a few trills, Nathan tapped Dimitri's shoulder.

“Dimitri, switch with me. We’ll do the push. You and Vincent follow us from behind when you see an opening, strike from his flanks. Dimitri aims for his legs, let’s hope that he will use his tail to fend off your attack, thus giving room for Vincent to strike or grab his tail.” Nathan instructed them as he switches positions with Dimitri. Nathan with Anton on his left and Leon on his right advances on Prae while taking advantage of their weapon’s range. “Strike randomly, make him focus on defending using his quarterstaff,” Nathan said to Anton and Leon. Dimitri and Vincent are right behind them with their swords filling in the gaps between Nathan, Anton, and Leon.

Nathan not only strikes aiming at Prae’s stomach area but aiming at Prae’s head trying to make a distraction for Vincent to slip around them and strike at Prae.

“So Prae, have you ever spar with the Empress?” Nathan said out of curiosity and also aiming to distract Prae. Behind him, Dimitri prepares himself to flank Prae as soon as Nathan gave the signal and aims at his feet. Vincent switched his hold on his sword and readied himself to strike at Prae’s other flank as soon as Dimitri moves.

As soon as they get close enough to Prae, Nathan signaled Dimitri. Nathan, Leon, and Anton throw up a barrage of random thrusting with their spears as Dimitri flanked Prae from the right and aims at his feet, while Vincent flanks Prae from the left a few trills after Dimitri left his position. Without breaking momentum, Vincent threw his sword aiming at Prae's feet while still continuing to run behind him to try and grab his tail.

[Praetorum]

“Wish I could tell you,” Prae replied when Nathan asked about his armor. “It was normal leather when I bought it—but Yaralon is a deeply unusual place, and strange things happening is normal over there. Things happened there, and my armor was changed.” Prae shrugged. “You grow used to such oddities after a while.”

The mercenaries attacked him each in turn, cautiously probing his movements, he guessed. “The Empire?” Prae considered the question as he defended himself. “Less bars and brawls than Rharne, for one thing. More ithecal. More organized.“ Despite himself, he smiled. “It’s home.” A home he would not be able to return to for a long while. “Better for you to see for yourself, someday. It’s hard to sum up an empire that spans half the continent in a few words.”

Prae knocked the human to the ground, and watched with interest as his fellows formed up in front of him. He took care of his men, and they followed his orders quickly. Their organization was still a little sloppy, and the reliance on shouted orders was a disadvantage, but those were all things that could be taught and trained. What mattered was Nathan’s mindset, and that seemed to be in around the right place.

After a quick discussion, the mercenaries switched from attacking in turn to attacking together, and Prae immediately saw he wouldn’t be able to defend with only his quarterstaff. Taking a step away, Prae’s tail coiled under his left arm, and wrapped around his quarterstaff, while his left hand dropped the weapon, and caught his shield as it swung down off his back, all before anyone could react.

It was a trick Prae had developed against the nickels, and it was a trick that served him well here, as his shield was much more appropriate to block multiple blows at once than the quarterstaff.

Prae couldn't help but grin slightly at Nathan when the human asked his next question. “Fates, no. You’re vastly overestimating how important I am, or how busy the Empress is.“ Blocking a blow from Anton, Prae jabbed at the man’s midsection with his staff, forcing him to retreat a little. “Why? Is that how you got your mark?”

As Nathan signaled his companions, Prae caught the movement of the two flankers, and quickly calculated his options. Too much was happening all at once, and it put Prae at a distinct disadvantage. Twisting in place, he used his shield to block the spears in front of him, before batting Vincent’s sword away with a sweep of his staff. That left Dimitri at his back, readying an attack at him.

Prae needed a distraction. So he let his shield drop a hair, baiting a thrust from one of the spearmen before him. The next attack any of them made, Prae did not merely block—instead, he angled his shield, and parried, sending the spear thrust off course, and into Dimitri’s path to block him from attacking Prae.

As soon as that was done, Prae would go on the offensive again, using the protection his shield gave him to keep him safe as he aggressively targeted Nathan—he was curious to see how the group would react when their leader was being pressured.

[Nathan Wolfgang]

“Hope it could make the plate armor less heavy but still plate. Guess I should visit Yaralon too some of these days. Well, at least this is a change of scenery from the gloomy mountain and the usual fire spawn raids. There’s so much more about Idalos huh?” Nathan answered as he strikes at Prae following the sequence.

“Need to loosen up too once in a while right? The bars and brawls truly go hand in hand.” Nathan replied as he swung his blade at Prae. Nathan paused when Prae mentioned home. “Home huh? If only that iron-handed geezer would-“ He stopped when he realized he said that out loud. “I’ll be sure to visit it someday,” Nathan said.

“Damn it.” Nathan curses under his breath as Prae uses his tail to hold the other side of the quarterstaff, acting as his right hand. “Who knew he could use the tail like that. Thought it’d be hard to use it as an extended hand.” Nathan said to himself.

“Keep at it,” Nathan said to Leon and Anton as the three of them continue to thrust their spears at Prae.

“Well-” Nathan grinned slightly as Anton was pushed back. “Well, if I have the strength and experience of a dozen Lotharro and Aukari, it’ll still be over before it began. I still got arcs to go if I ever want to be able to deflect a single blow from her.” Nathan said referring to the time Raskalarn saved them from the Aukari and Lotharro before signaling Dimitri and Vincent.

It almost worked, Vincent’s sword was swept away. As soon as Nathan saw the shield drop he strikes at Prae hoping to get a hit with the small window of opportunity that he got. In a blink of an eye instead of hitting Prae, Nathan felt his trajectory changed and his spear was blocking the path of Dimitri’s attack. Dimitri jumped back to look for an opening.

“Well played,” Nathan replied as he steadied himself. He grinned slightly, he could feel his heart beats faster and his breathing got shorter. Nathan then took off his helmet and throw it away. “Well, this just got interesting.” He continued. He then looked at the current positions of his fellow Ironridge-born. Vincent also took off his helmet and his gauntlets and changes his stance to go for a melee attack. Dimitri was keeping his distance, studying Prae’s movement while looking for and opening and making light strikes at Prae. Anton and Leon were still at his side, thrusting their spears but they began to thrust less frequently and with more caution.

“Damn it” Nathan curses as Prae switched stance again. Nathan was counting on the Ithecal to keep on the defensive after their previous attempt. “Well, at least I got you to use your shield right? So a mug of beer for that?” Nathan said with a slight chuckle. Nathan saw that the three of them were being pushed back.

“Hey, Dimitri! Remember the commander?” Nathan shouted at Dimitri as he saw that Prae was targeting him in particular. He was referencing the time a few bits before meeting Raskalarn when the Lotharro ambushed them and wounded their commander gravely, forcing Nathan to take the lead in his stead.

Dimitri smiled and nodded, he knew that Nathan meant for him to come up with an alternate plan with Vincent while he acts as bait. “May he rest,” Dimitri shouted back. He then signaled Vincent. Vincent nodded and waited for Nathan to lure Prae farther away so he could get his sword and attack Prae together with Dimitri.

“Slowly break formation,” Nathan said under his breath to Anton and Leon while still using the spear’s range to keep a distance between him and Prae. What was previously a slow march backward becomes faster as Prae switched to an aggressive stance. Nathan was backpedaling faster, trying to keep a distance between him and Prae while also leading him away so that Vincent could rush in to get his sword and hopefully got another chance at striking Prae. Leon and Anton slowly moved farther from Nathan while still thrusting their spear at Prae and waiting for the signal from either Nathan or Dimitri to strike Prae together.

Nathan was waiting for the chance to be able to grab hold of Prae's quarterstaff or shield while Leon, Anton, and Vincent force him to use his shield against them or attack them with his quarterstaff. Nathan knew that ever since he got marked by Raskalarn he felt a bit stronger than he was previously and he was counting on that small extra boost of strength to be able to help him held Prae's shield or quarterstaff if only for a trill or two to make room for Dimitri or Vincent to strike.

Just a trill or two, just a trill or two, that's all I need. Nathan thought to himself as he waited for the opportunity.

[Praetorum]

Prae laughed when Nathan answered his question about sparring with the Empress. “Aye,” he said. “I can’t imagine there are many mortals who could block a blow from her, never mind match her. Still, good goal to aim for, right?”

“That’s true,” Prae said, shifting his grip on his staff to block a blow from behind. “You did get me to use my shield, so I’ll buy you lot a round of drinks after this. Make me use magic, and I’ll buy you all a meal as well,” he joked.

Now that he’d seized the offensive, Prae swept and jabbed at Nathan repeatedly, testing out his defenses, all the while keeping a close eye on the other mercenaries. Nathan had said something about the commander, a clear reference to something that had happened in their past. It was a decent way of giving an order without giving away what that order was, he’d give the man that.

The party of five had split by now into three in front and two behind, and now the three in front were spreading out as Prae continued to attack Nathan. He was probably being lured away from the two behind so they could launch a coordinated attack, Prae guessed.

That was a mistake.

Closing the distance between himself and Nathan with a burst of speed, Prae swept his staff behind Nathan’s knees, knocking him off his feet, before whirling around to attack Dimitri and Vincent simultaneously, alternating attacks between them.

“Not a bad strategy if you think you can pin down your opponent,” Prae called over his shoulder at the downed Nathan. “But against someone larger and stronger, you should work with your allies to set up a strong defense instead of acting as distraction.“