The Guide Lines of Guiding

[Selibas]

Ooc: Continued from Finding the Syndicate.

Ic: Selibas, Samen, and Chlane walked into a pub in Bern. There was also an inn on the top floor. As they walked in a lot of bandit, bounty hunter types looked up at them. But it was just an old man, an underage swordsman, and a Shaman so they looked away.

They sat down at a small table and waited for someone to ask if they wanted drinks. Chlane and Samen had ditched their Syndicate robes and now wore travelers clothes with approprite armor or what not for their fighting style. Selibas simply had a patch over his insignia on his shoulder.

Chlane and Selibas put their swords on the table. The first thing Chlane had told Selibas about getting Mercenary jobs was to show your weapons at a place where jobs would be available. Samen boot his Tome on the table with a grin. Selibas laughed with him but Chlane stared him down.

It had been about two weeks since they left Nabata an Chlane had been teaching Selibas such rules and tactics along the way. They were now at Bern because Chlane tought it would be good to see how to defeat a Wyvern Rider. He could of told Selibas but it wouldn't be the same.

A large man with a giant lance walked by being followed by a shorter thin man trying to get him to listen. " Please sir I will pay you a large amount of money for your services," He said to the leaving man. Chlane said, " That looks promising, if he offers a job Selibas pay attention me and Samen will do the talking." Selibas nodded and Samen stood up and asked Chlane, " Should I do what we talked about sir?" Chlane nodded.

Samen got up and walked over to the bar. On his way he "tripped" and knocked over a drink onto two very large men. They got up and one of them grapped Samen. Selibas and Chlane go up and calmly walked over.

Samen wasn't very good without his tome so he just sortof hung there being held up by the giant. But CHlane walked up and tapped the man on the shoulder he turned his head and Selibas punched him. Wll he didn't punch him. He punched his shoulder because the man was about six foot eight and Selibas was five four. But it was enough to get his and the other mans attention. They dropped Samne and made to leap on Selibas. but Selibas was out of the way and Chlane kicked the first man in the stomach and then punched him in the nose. He fell because while old Chlane was able to take on a fight.

Selibas and Samen worked on the other man. He tried to throw a chair at Selibas but Samen kicked the back of his shins. He dropped the chair and Selibas got close enough to kick him in the groin. The man went down. Chlane who had retrieved his sword by then unseathed it as if to say to the people who had moved out of the way, anyone else? No was the answer given by the latter.

[Selibas]

Selibas, Chlane, and Samen mad their way back to the table as the chaos died down. They sat down and Chlane resheathed his sword and attached it to his belt. Instead he placed his axe on the table to show he was multitalented. Selibas smiled, “ well that worked.” Chlane nodded as the man who had mentioned money earlier walked over.

He said, “ Gentlemen I am here to offer you all a job. It is a job that I cannot handle for I am required to stay here. You all clearly handle yourselves in a fight very well. I would be willing to pay you handsomely for your services.” Chlane looked dead in the man’s eyes and replied, “ I would need to know what it is first.”

The man continued, “ Of course. My wife, daughter, and I came to Bern from Illia. We had hoped to marry our Daughter to the son of a rebellious lord of Bern. We had hoped, ( us back in Illia that is) that the marriage would make our countries union more stable.

But the rebels killed our escort and now all that is left is the three of us and our servant. I want my wife and child to go back to Illia. My servant will drive them in our coach of course. What I would need to gentlemen to do is guard them all the way to my land. I can pay you handsomely like I said earlier. Including a room tonight.” He placed two keys on the table. “ So will you take the job?”

Chlane nodded and replied, “ Yes we will. I expect your coach outside ready to go by dawn. I want four hundred gold crowns ready in Illia. And your wife had better be able to pay my expenses during the trip.” He took one of the keys and looked at the man.

The man stood up and his eyes darted from Chlane to Selibas. He said, “ My daughter is on the young side, so I expect no trouble.” And at that he walked away.

[Selibas]

Selias was a little hurt, espeially since he can't talk to women, but he decided not to say anything. Chlane broke the silence, " This Selibas is a guiding mission. Always ask for four hundred crowns, no matter the distance. Now you all get to sleep we'll be gettig up an hour after dawn."

Samen said, " I thought the employers had to be ready at dawn?" Chlane Smiled," I didn't say we did." Selibas and Samen got up and went up stairs. Samen fell on the bed and Selibas layed down on the floor. He was uncomfortable so he got up and leaned against a wooden cabinet-drawer thing. It was better and he went to sleep.

[Selibas]

There was a loud knock on the door. Selibas jumped up grabbing his sword ready for an attack. He said making his voice gruff, " Who is it?" Samen chose then to wake up. He grabbed his tome and nodded to Selibas. No answer at the door mention it might be an enemy. There was no light coming in through the door so it couldn't be Chlane.

Selibas got up and walked towards the door. He stood to one side and thrust it open. Samen prepared to cast his flux. But Chlane had simply came early and he had apparently re-supplied. He wore a full suit of grey armor but he had his old brown cloak still draped about his shoulders. He had five sacks full of food. And a red shamans robe for Samen to fool anyone who might know of the Syndicate. He threw Samen the robe and said," Let's go, our employers were ready an hour ago."

[Selibas]

Selibas and company walked down the hall. Chlane said," You will reffer to the older of the woman Mrs. Harptree, and her daughter Ms. Harptree. Their " Serveant"" Chlane paused and made a face of disgust, "You will refer to as Terrence."

" Illia, one of the reasons I left was how lazy the d**n nobles are. Thats why our economy is based on mercenaries. That and it's always cold." so that's where Chlane was from. Selibas would have to remember to talk to him about it when he wasn't on a rant about the current state of Elibe. Now that he thought about it where was Samen from?

They came down the steps and walked outside. There was a carriage outlined by the sunrise. Chlane opened up the door and threw in the packs of supplies. Selibas hear a richish feminist voice saying, " No you impossible brute. We will not have you using our coach as a wagon." Then a softer voice said, " Mother please calm down." Chlane said," You can ride with the packs or you can walk with them on." With that he started walking signaling for them to follow and Terrence to start driving.

[Selibas]

Timeskip
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Selibas walked to one side of the coach. He was just close enough so he could talk to Terrence. The old man was very interesting. He had been a servant of the family for many years. He had originally been a servant for his current mans younger brother. He had gone with the young man to protect him in something called the Bandit War. But his master died and he now served this man for about two more months.

Samen sat up top with Terrence, who was driving, nodding along with facts about the war. Selibas realized he and most members of the Syndicate had probably fought in it. Selibas wanted to know more about it but he would wait until they stopped. They had been on the road for about two hours and they would stop in maybe another one.

Chlane had walked on the other side until "his old bones got too tired" and he decided to ride in the coach. Much to the dismay of Mrs. Harptree he refused to leave. He sat inside debating his efficiency as a body gaurd. There couldn't have been a better time to do this because some ambitious and cocky bandits picked the morning to attack.

[Selibas]

Selibas wasn't the first one to notice the bandits. It would of been Chlane but he was in the coach. But Terrence saw them and shouted bandits to alarm Chlane. He stopped the coach and got off going to the back. He pulled a spear Selibas hadn't seen before.

There were five bandits. One had a bow and another was on a horse and the only one with a sword. The four men knew what they would do. Samen would take the man with the bow. Terrence would take the man on the horse and Selibas and Chlane would take the other three that simply had axes.

Selibas was unsure how to handle the situation if two men attacked him at once. The four took a stand. Terrence to the left of Selibas, Chlane to the right, and Samen behind him. He wasn't sure how well Terrence would do. He only looked about forty but the man was skinny. The bandits were getting closer and they tightened their almost formation.

[Selibas]

The bandit on the horse held back enough that he wouldn't be alone but was still at the head of the charge. So Terrence took a step forward and did a strange motion with his lance. The man swung his sword half a second before the motion and his sword was caught and whipped about. At the end of the motion the mans sword was somehow caught on Terrence's crosspiece at the head of his spear. He pulled and the man was taken off of his horse. When he was down Terrence stabbed him through his throat.

[Selibas]

Samen and the archer were both at the back of their units. The archer fired his first arrow originnally for Selibas. But Samen decided to have a little fun. He cast a spell of darkness enveloping the arrow. Then a similar spell appeared in front of the archer. This time an arrow came flying out of the abyss and hit the archer in the shoulder.The archer became angry and started firing as fast as he could Samen kept casting the same spell but couldn't recover from opening his soul to the abyss. He took a few hits two in the leg and one in his hand. But he killed the archer after a few darkness enduced arrow storm.

[Selibas]

Chlane was stuck fighting the biggest man. He was a bandit not a simple brigand like the other two. Chlane himself, a cocky old man decided he didn't need the advantage and took out his axe. The brigand thrusted his axe into the air. He brought it down like a judges gabble. When it struck home it gave the verdict of death. That was why the man had a perverted fantasy of being the judge of mens souls. The fact that a leader of a troop of bandits may not be a good judge of character had never occured to him. Chlane brought his axe up the head of his axe hitting the iron hilt of his enemies stopping the blow. Chlane sweeper his feet under the younger mans. The man had already jumped back and brought his axe upward. Chlane sidestepped and hit the base of his hilt to the side of the mans head. The man fell and Chlane raised his axe. The brigand said with much anger,"my men will kill you. The bandits of Vargus shall avenge their leaders death." Chlane was about to end the mans life but he saw out of the corner of his eye Selibas having trouble with two enemies at once. He had no time and he ran over driving his axe into the back of one man at a time close to every other dual ending.

[Selibas]

Selibas of course had even thought of how he would do against two enemies. So of course with his luck the other two came to the young unconfident boy. So one of the enemies a younger man who looked almost as inexperienced as Selibas himself was the first in front of the other swiping at Selibas' head. Selibas barely brought up his sword in time. It just happened that the other man had been attempting to hit Selibas' arm. When he moved his arm it adjusted so that his shoulder gaurd blocked the blow. Right at that moment Selibas noticed an arrow flying toward his head. Suddenly a large darkness grabbed the arrow and it disappeared. The two men couldn't believe their eyes. Selibas took this opportunity to start an offense. He punched the younger man in the face and swung his sword at the other. The man just barely blocked the blow and the younger man doubled back. Selibas blocked two quick attacks from the bandit. The other lifted his axe to swing but Selibas kicked him in the shins. All while fending off attacks from his other adversary. He swung at the younger mans head but he had bent over out of pain from his shins. But the he got punched in the face and the flat of one of the axes in the ribs. The momentum shifted and all he could do was block a few attacks. He used a portion of his vulnerary before all of a sudden Chlane ran over and stabbed the larger man in the back. Selibas was rejuvinated and stabbed the surprised younger man in the stomache then ripped it out of the man to the right. The other small battles ended and Chlane looked to where his ex-adversary had lain. There was no body and Chlane let out something that sounded like a quiet roar. He said, "That man is going to be a problem."

[Selibas]

Selibas suddenly felt all the pain. He fell over holding his broken ribs. He breathed heavily slowly reaching for his vulnerary. But then all of a sudden the pain became lessened. He slowly turned his whole body seeing a beautiful young woman a few years older than him holding a staff for healing. She got closer and healed him again. She then said, "Sorry I could of helped earlier but my mother told me not to leave the coach. Also I'm not that well adapted to this staff yet."

Selibas should of said something that made him sound real heroic and manly. Something like, don't worry about me I'm fine, just like you. But being Selibas when he tried to stiffle it out he said, "Uh bluh." Samen laughed and stepped forward asking her to heal his leg and hand. She was smart and balanced who she healed. Chlane decided Selibas wasn't fit to walk so he dumped him and a few things he had gathered from the enemies inside the coach.

[Selibas]

Mrs. Harptree was very unhappy about Selibas riding in her coach. Her and her daughter sat on one side and Selibas lay on the other. Chlane walked because while old he was a good commander because both Samen and Selibas were not in top form and it wouldn't make sense for them to walk.

Mrs. Harptree talked constantly. Mostly about all the balls and formal dinners Ms. Harptree would attend. All the fathers giving things to their family for her hand in marriage to their son. She made a very obvious statement that there are no Sacaen nobles so there would be no worries for a sword swinging savage. Wolves of war she called them pretending to think Selibas was asleep.

Chlane after a while opened the door and said, "Come on got three rooms at a nice inn. Your paying ma'am. So you'd better get your purse ready." He picked up Selibas and walked away.

[Selibas]

Selibas and Terrence got one of the rooms with two beds. Chlane set him down and walked out closing the door behind him as if to say don't leave til morning. Selibas slowly started taking off his armor. Terrence sat on the bed next to him and said with a smile, "You to old for a bedtime story?"

He didn't wait he jumped right into his story. "I had originally served my current masters brother. I started out life in a simple family. And I was only a simple soldier. But I retired but I still needed a steady income so I became a mercenary. Well I like jobs that would be in it for a long haul. So when my current master came and asked me to protect his younger brother I accepted.

You see at the time there were many conflicts on Elibe. Much like they are now. A large one was Bern and Ostia. That was the main conflict me and Piur(my original master) were in. There was a secret battle we were at the heart of. On a rainy day in November we were passing through a forest. We had about three hundred soldiers. But we got ambushed by about seven hundred.

[Selibas]

But Terrence didn't get to finish the story because Selibas, although he wanted to hear a campaign story, had fallen asleep. But Terrence thought a long time and he picked up a price of paper and started writing. He was not a Hero of the Bandit War but he felt war need to truly be explained. That it was not all saving the weak and stopping tyranny. It was often doing the deeds some hero should have to fix. War was He'll but it was all he was good at. But it didn't have to be Selibas' whole life he thought.