Durrandon's Ambition 1: Gold Fever [Ambition members only]

[Orys Durrandon]

Orys watched at the gold mine from the little perch he had landed in with Balerion. The whole area was protected heavily. There was the natural protection, what with the mine being located in a very small crack inside the mountainous sea borders, with the only access being either by flying or by sailing in. The flying was restricted by two towers near the entrance to the mine that were manned at the moment. Normally, the one way in by ship would have also been shut off by a group of mages who would burn anything that was not of their allingment.

Of course, Orys had planned around this by directing a few of the trustworthy men he had managed to gather earlier, and having them climb over to the hills to try and trick some of the enemies to come over. They were still fighting, thankfully with not too many casualties yet on his side. He trusted his luck a lot on this operation. If the pirates were not in position, he would die here. His ambitions would dry up, and Lucius might not even take over the reins.

Ah, Lucius. He was hoping that the man was with the pirates on his boat, along with other people he had recruited. If not... Hah, it would be a glorious way to die, would it not? Robbing a gold mine like some pathetic bandit. But he was different. He had a goal.

He proceeded to lit his torch as he then flew up high with Balerion, signalling everyone that it was time to attack. The torch could be seen very far, due to it being nighttime.

[Captain Morgan]

Morgan watched the mine from far out into the sea, scratching the beard on her face that hid her gender. This was not somewhere she had expected to be today, but someone's ambition had led her here, brought her through some odd circumstance. She had to pick up a few of Orys' men for the raid, including that one from the bar, William. She kept an eye on them initially just to make sure they wouldn't do anything stupid to a bunch of pirates, but they didn't seem to have a death wish, so while she waited for the signal,they were allowed to do what they wanted.

As far as Morgan was aware, hers was the only ship Orys had hired. That meant that most of the gold was leaving on her ship. A possible mutiny for her pirates to take the gold for themselves could be at stake, so she hoped that Orys had some other plan. Either way, she was to wait for the signal, so that she'd know that the sentries were taken care of, then the ship would sail into the mine and her pirates (Plus William and the others following Orys) would charge in and take the mine.

Suddenly, the signal appeared, like a star in the night sky. "Right! There's the signal. Men, the wind is against us, I want you all to row us into that mine. It does not bode well for our entry, but that just means that it will be at our backs when we leave." The pirates cheered and went below the decks to begin moving it towards the cliff-face mine.

"You lot." She said to the rest of Orys' rag-tag band who was with her. "The name's Captain Morgan, and I suppose that I am the man led by Mr. Orys to take us to our deaths, or possibly, to glory." She grinned. "Make sure you're ready for a fight, cause I don't believe they will give it up so easily. It would be good to know the names of the people I'm going to die with." She beat her chest once in a manly way. Appearance was everything, even if they really were to die today.

[Yorick]

All was silent on the rocky crags; there had been some disturbance before, but that was being handled.

So for the present moment, there was nothing for the Halberdier to do save grumble and wish that she had never taken this job in the first place. Sure, the pay was great, but there was nothing out here except boulders and pickaxes. Nothing interesting. Hell, there weren't even bandits. And the one night that there is something... She's on inner duty.

"Rotten luck, I tell you. Rotten luck."

The woman sat down, propping her lance against a rock, and took a draught from her flask. No point in being thirsty. Might as well make the best of this mind-numbing guard duty.

Putting her drink away, Yorick took out her tools and began to clean her weapons, beginning with her lance and javelins. With great meticulousness, she sharpened, cleaned, and shined the sharp metal of the head and the hard wood of the haft, taking the utmost care to do the best job she could. Finishing, she stowed the weapons and moved on to her axe and throwing axe, cleaning the large metal heads and the razor-keen edges before wiping the hafts and retouching the grips. Finally, she took out her broadsword and sharpened its two edges, putting a significant amount of elbow grease into the process, before restoring the bevel of the edges and cleaning out the fullers.

Standing up and wiping off her throwing knives, before stowing them back in their bandolier, Yorick sighed. This was the worst. No excitement. No fun. No combat.

[Loreley]

Loreley didn't like the fact that the wind was against them. No sailor would, but she felt it as much or more than many. Being trained in omens and sea lore only made it more apparent for her. Promise was following close behind Captain Morgan's larger vessel, the smaller sloop hiding wake of its larger companion. She'd eventually decided to come, sharing counsel with Orys as she saw the opportunity. He was a proud man, and she saw a great deal of opportunity in aiding him. Both his opportunity and her own.

Just like the others on deck of the larger ship, Loreley watched for the promised signal. Her heart was in her throat as she waited. She'd never done anything like this before. It was actually a little hard for her to believe that she was even here. True, her primary role in the mission was to leave immediately after so she could carry a message, but she was still here. She'd been led to come here, even if her normal leanings would have her catching wind and sailing the other direction as quickly as she could. At least until the fighting was over. Instead, she was here waiting for the sign like the pirates, and Orys' other help.... What a world she lived in. What in the heavens had she gotten herself into.

There went the sign. Up into the sky like a small explosion, she saw a small flicker of light in the distance that was the signal to begin the approach. Captain Morgan's ship would be rowing in. Because her ship was so much smaller, she had no oars to use. She'd be tacking in to reach the fortress they were coming against.

A quick movement had her hauling on the lines and pulling her mainsail up into the air. The surge that hit the ship quickly puffed the sail out as she turned to the side, heeling the sloop over to the side. Due to the angle of the sails and the ship in the water though, the wind power was transferred into forward motion. Tacking was an innefficient method of moving forward at best, but it was the only option for her small ship. Couldn't leave it unmanned, and she didn't want to beach it for the operation. That meant she'd be riding the wind in.

That was enough time heading that way. A quick spin of her wheel and the boat started to turn into the wind, cranking around and heading back in the other direction, Loreley dropped her head and let the boom swing past over her head as the wind caught into her sails from the other direction. That was tacking. She'd be going back and forth in this zig zag pattern, creeping forward slowly until she reached where she would stop. It was one of the few advantages a small ship had over a larger ship. Trying to swing the corvettes and cutters around like that simply wasn't quick work, and they turned much slower. Morgan's ship's larger profile would be fighting the wind all the way in, even with all the oars, so Loreley would have to be careful not to get too far ahead of the rest of the fighters. Morgan's Pirates were the bulk of this force, after all. She wasn't likely to be much help.

[Orys Durrandon]

The grin on Orys's face was radiating. It was beginning. This would be the first part of the sagas that would be told about him thousands of years later. The first stone that paved the path to his new kingdom. The first strike against these... Weak kingdoms that were brought down by greed. Orys was a man of action. He had seen the other countries of this continent, and he had never been impressed. He had not been impressed when he was a soldier. He was not impressed when he was a renegade.

And he is not impressed... As a king.

Now, to prepare the landing. The watchtowers were still focused on bombarding some of his men, but the mages had returned to their post near the little port that was prepared for ships to dock. He gave Balerion a gentle kick as the wyvern begun to swoop down, letting out a loud roar that made the mages look up... Only to have one fall down as a javelin sunk deep into his gut and as one was crunched between Balerions jaw. The three remaining mages whipped out their tomes as they begun to murmur and cast, throwing balls of fire at him.

He was not going to engage them further. The ships needed a distraction, and by killing the mages he could attract more unwanted attention. So he just kept flying and avoiding the fireballs that were thrown at him, doing a few swoops down from time to time.

[Captain Morgan]

Morgan took the helm, guiding the ship inside as she watched the small darts of light above her. Must have been some kind of magic battle going on above, best to charge in now before they realized what was going on outside.

As the ship arrived inside of the mine, a regime of guards followed by a staff member approached their dock, screaming at the ship "You're in a restricted! Show your pass or prepare to be boar-" But he was cut off by a grapple being thrown into his chest on accident. The pirates threw their lines onto the dock, catching into the wooden part of it, and skid down the ropes to attack the guard. Once the landing was taken, a plank was set down onto it to allow the less rope-ready to get down and fight.

Morgan pulled her axe out from under her coat and raised it up high. "Charge! We take this mine in the name of Durrandon!" Before her and the rest of her pirates ran out and into the impeding guards. She cleaved her axe into one, two guardsmen, taking them down before they recovered from the surprise, although already a few of her crew had fallen. She took time to check the bodies to see if they were still alive, and carried a few badly injured back on board her ship. Her compassion towards her crew had earned their trust, and some even called her their "Father" for it, funny as that sounded.

The dock would be taken shortly, but the sound of battle carried easily in the enclosed caves, there would be reinforcements on their way from deeper inside.

[Yorick]

"What the hell?!"

The shouts of the mages and the glow of their magical flames drew the Halberdier's attention; she looked up to see what their target was, but could not detect anything. Suddenly, a brief shadow caught her eye, and she realized that there was a wyvern rider above, attacking the mages. What on earth was a Bern Rider doing there?

Then, the yells of the dock guards caught her attention. This was no solitary madman; this was an operation. She needed to get the entryway plugged, or they'd all be doomed. Normally, she'd start to close the heavy iron gate, used to protect the mine from flooding. But at this rate, the intruders would wash through. There was no option. She had to engage them.

"YOU THREE! Allen! Bryce! Chuck! Get as many men as you can and follow me! Damian! Get the gate shut! I don't care if we're blocked out. Get the gate closed! At the worst, we'll lose our lives. But the good of the operation must come beforehand! MOVE!"

Damian stood for a moment, hanging in the balance as his emotions paralyzed him.

"MOVE, YOU BLOODY FOOL!"

With a start, Damian ran off, and Yorick nodded grimly, motioning to the three men she'd called to and the dozen or so employees they'd drummed up.

"Draw your weapons, men. Let's send their asses back into the sea and get back before that gate shuts."

With one mighty yell, Yorick hoisted her broadsword into the air and charged, her men following. Arriving within minutes at the dock, they immediately burst into the fray, although the situation was grim. The dock was nearly taken, and the enemy's numbers were far too great.

"Chuck! Go back! Get more men! HURRY!"

Swinging her sword like a crazed beast, Yorick sent out a booming call.

"Let any fool who seeks death come to me! I'll match your steel with mine, and grow flowers from the rocks with your blood!"

As a pirate charged in, the Halberdier deftly spun her sword and deflected his clumsy axe-stroke, following it up with a clean slice. Her sword clanged upon his hasty block, and she yanked upwards, pulling the axe-haft out of his hand and delivering a slash that sent him falling, his head nearly severed.

"I'm waiting. Waiting for a challenge. You folk are poor excuses for pirates, I'll tell you that!"

[Deleted]

Lucius could hear the commotion up above. It was strangely exciting even at his age. He was getting caught up in the dreams and ambitions of a reckless man. But he was a man tgat had beaten sense into him with a rock. This he would see his dream to whatever end it brought them. From the sound of it the deck above had cleared out. Give it twenty minutes and it would be their time to act.

"Alright brats. Our job is to map out the caverns and support the advanced party should they still be in combat. Everything you produce is to be brought back to me later. I will create a master map and plan out our production from there. Ours is not a dangerous job but do not forget where we are. Keep your heads down and your eyes open."

Lucius had preferred to have come here with Bonnie's crew but this captain morrigan would have to suffice. He wanted to fight but Orys told him no. Seems that he valued his trade mind. How did he go from being a mercenary to a merchant? As he dwelled on his circumstances a man spoke in the darkness.

"Who is this Orys anyway? I'm here to get paid but what man comes from nothing and brings together a group like this?"

Lucius smiled a smile lost to the dark. "He is a man that lives on a different plane of existence from us. He was born to rule and to look down from on high."

[Loreley]

Lore kept working her way forward against the winds, staying out a distance from the docks to which Captain Morgan's ship was heading. In the chances between working the rigging, she kept her eyes on the defenders of the mine they were storming, but there was precious little time for her to do anything else.

She was... excited. It had been easy to get caught up in the magnitude and grandeur of the man's dream, though she tried her hardest to remain objective about her reasons for coming: A small fortune to be made, and a new ship. As to her other reasons,... she had reason to wish to see at least some of the tale before her play out. Some of those reasons could end with her and her family being rather well set, if she acted at the right time. Some of those reasons could also end up with her dying though. She gulped at that.

The excitement was shattered by a sound: A man's agonized scream. She thought she'd heard something right before he'd cut off into his dying wail. He was just doing his job. He was in the right. They had come here to raze and take. She had come here to raze and take. The energy that had permeated her but a few moments before now came crashing down as she started to feel a sick feeling in her gut. By the spirits, I've become a murderer.... The sickening feeling worsened as she quickly tried to turn her ship into the wind, there was something a little more pressing on her mind at the moment though. Like the bile rising in her throat in disgust at what she was hearing, and what she was supporting, however indirectly it may be. The man's life and death flooded over her, and she instinctively heaved her head over the side quickly enough to avoid getting the offending vomit she was spewing on Promise's deck.

Thankfully, she was still a little ways out, and the defenders appeared to be busier focusing on the large pirate ship attacking them instead of the single solo operated sloop resting out in their bay. She knew that couldn't last forever though. Whatever her feelings on the matter, she was here now. She had to get it together. She felt miserable, and doubted she could bring herself to fight though. She pulled herself together from the quivering mess she was in, and started going about bringing the sails down and tying them lightly. She wanted to be able to get them to release again quickly, given the need. She just... hoped that she wasn't needed for this.

Furling the sails did give her a few chances to look around as she floated out in the water though. Some kind of fiery air display was going on high up in the sky. The mages protecting the walls were finding something to shoot at overhead. Little doubt of what that was. She just hoped that the distraction proved effective, and they didn't open up on the harbor. With a soft sploosh, she dropped a small anchor into the water to keep Promise from drifting too far, then set about other preparations. It took an effort of will, but she did manage to get her bow out and get it strung properly. She couldn't quite bring herself to put it to use though. Not in a situation where she was using it to fight and kill in a cold heart at least. She wasn't that icy, thankfully.

Instead, she found herself watching pathetically, unsure of herself as the forces clashed on the docks. Pirates vs defenders. Some of them were very intimidating figures, such as Captain Morgan and his brutal assault. There was a fighter on the defender's side that was as wild as any fighter she'd seen in the Isles though.

[Orys Durrandon]

Orys laughed as he watched the slaughter from the air. His part on this mission this far had been done in a spectacular way. He had won this. He had WON. Sure, there was still fighting to be done, but it was trivial at this point. His men had the morale to do this. They had Lucius. They had Morgan. They had Loreley. They had everything there to keep them fighting, and he was proud of the men and women who fought for him today. He'd share ale with them, maybe a few stories, count kills... His grin was genuine.

"I'm waiting. Waiting for a challenge. You folk are poor excuses for pirates, I'll tell you that!"

The shout ringed to his ears as he looked around, finally noticing the figure that had released said shout. A woman. She was... Impressive enough. Very impressive, in fact. Killing one of the pirates already set her out as better than most of the soldiers here. "Men, the woman who just took blood will be MINE." He laughed as he motioned to Balerion, who quickly rushed down to the ground, causing it to boom as he crashed against it. Dirt flew all around them...

Until Balerion rose to a standing position, Orys on his back. He held his javelin in one hand as he eyed the woman up and down. "Such a shame. Actually competent and working at this mine?" He laughed for a moment as he jumped off of Balerion's back. "Your life ends here, sadly. It's just kingdom forging, nothing personal."

The gate was slowly closing...

[Captain Morgan]

Morgan watched the gate closing slowly in front of them, leading into the mines. "Durrandon! Hold er off, I'll get the gate open!" She jumped down off of her ship after carrying the injured on board, and charged past the pirates and guards fighting. She wasn't the burliest guy, but she wouldn't let anyone stop her. Quite a few swords were swung at her as she ran through the enemy formation, but it didn't matter. With the rush of adrenaline, they felt like fly swatters to her. She was even pretty sure that her fake beard fell off, replaced with a nice big cut on her chin, but it didn't really matter. Her show was over, now was just time to work.

Her axe cleaved a few soldiers as she ran past, the bloody pirate charging straight through them was enough to make many just stop and piss their pants out of fear. The initial fear wouldn't last for long though, she had to take out as many as she could on her way through before they recovered and fought back.

No, there were too many of them. She was cut off before she could make it to the gate. Wounded and confused, she swung her axe around blindly, hitting anyone that got too close to her. She needed a breath to focus, just one second free and she could charge the rest of the way. The guards were equally terrified and focused, she needed something else to get past them, it wasn't enough to just try and get through alone.

[Yorick]

"Such a shame. Actually competent and working at this mine?"

Ah. The wyvern rider... So he was the leader of this enterprise? Probably some damned rebel, trying to stir up trouble and rile up the continent. Well, he was no match for her. Her axes would shatter his lance and rend his armor. The fool wouldn't know what hit him... Until it was too late.

"Your life ends here, sadly. It's just kingdom forging, nothing personal."

What? Kingdom forging? What kind of nonsense was that? Creating a kingdom? There was no room for another kingdom here. Especially with all the existing nonsense... Bern vs. Ilia, monsters galore... There was simply no room for another harebrained idea. So she would put it to rest. Stop this "King" here and send his upstart followers back into the sea... But in caskets.

"Well then, forge away. You'll have to go through me... And believe me, my deluded Rebel friend, that won't be too easy. I'm more than a match for you. Come! Let us fight!"

Putting her sword away, Yorick drew her two axes, holding them as she had during her pirate days.

"This will be a good fight, I hope. Don't disappoint me, "King"... I expect much out of a royal challenger. If you fight well enough, I might spare you your life, if you'll swear allegiance to me. Hah! No, there will be no such mercy. The punishment for bandits and robbers is death. Men, do not interfere. The king is mine; carry on killing his rebel subjects. Scum! You shall all die!"

[Loreley]

Madmen. All of them. And regrettably, she'd made the choice to land herself right in the midst of them all. It was a realization that brought with it the bloody reality of what she was witnessing. Was it really worth all of this to her to stick around? Back in Wake, when she and Orys had gone to the ruins over her home village, it had seemed so tantalizing to her. Tantalizing and harmless. A simple trip to the desert. A pit stop before a voyage to carry the message he needed back to the north. Now the violent reality was screaming in her face though, and she knew that she was a fool for not what she would find here ahead of time. Even with the lore of her village, she was still susceptible to all the tricks, wiles, and misfortunes that assailed others. She'd looked to hard at what she wanted to find, and not enough at the truth.

Now, as she saw the battle waging on the dock, she was presented with a crossroads. She could see that she could probably save lives of her compatriots if she would simply pick up her bow, and strike down the defenders. She could do so, or she could turn around the Promise, raise the sails, and ride the wind right back out the way she'd come. The accusations and hatred she knew would come to her rang through her head: betrayal and cowardice were not things to be known for, but was this even the right thing to fight for? She would make her call, assuming she could stop emptying her guts out into the ocean.

With a groan and not knowing entirely what she was doing, something seemed to break the grip that fear held over her mind and body. Loreley pushed herself up off of Promise's railings and took up her bow. She took a careful stance, balancing amidst the rocking of the waves which cradled her sloop, and carefully drew an arrow before taking aim towards where she'd seen Morgan go charging into. It was far enough to be a difficult shot, but though her nerves didn't steady, she took the time to make certain her hands were solid as she drew the bow. There was a last pause as she looked down the shaft and fletching before letting fly.

Dual shrieks flew through the turbulent winds as the deadly bolt flew on its way. One the whistling of the arrow, the other the sound of the death of the islander girl's innocence. The mournful wail trailed off as she saw the arrow find its mark. It wasn't even a very skillful shot. She'd been aiming at someone's chest who was trying to skirt around the sides, but instead it had ended up sticking in the armor of one of the defenders next to where she saw the Captain was fighting. It was the first time she had loosed an arrow at another living being. She felt dirty. She was horrified with herself, but there was only a brief pause before she pulled another arrow, and unhappily drew it to her cheek as she readied another shot to meant for the fray.

[Orys Durrandon]

"Rebel?" He tilted his head, leaning a bit forwards as Balerion snapped his jaws at the woman. "Oh, how is this rebelling?" He grinned for a moment, spinning his javelin in his hand. "I'm simply robbing a mine, not trying to topple a controlling power. And by robbing this mine, I plan to go and conquer a land that has no kingdom." He stroked his beard for a moment. "The western isles are ripe for picking. No man's laws are in control there, but I shall bring my hammer down on them. I shall shape the isles into a society worth being proud of."

While he was talking he noticed the situation that the captain was in. He could not see him clearly, but he was pretty sure his compatriot was surrounded by all kinds of guards. The enemy was there, and he needed to handle them somehow. It seems like that the way he had wanted to handle this battle would be out of the window, and at the same time this would become much, much more entertaining. He grew a grin as he placed his javelin back into it's own little bag, drawing out his iron spear...

Before hopping off of Balerion as he then swung his hand towards the gate. "Balerion!" With that, the wyvern let out a roar as it leaped over him, the female guard, and into the fray that was Morgan and the guards that were fighting him. He then took a battle position as he motioned his hand towards the woman. "Come, then. Try and end me."

[Captain Morgan]

Morgan slumped hopelessly, waiting for the killing blow to be struck. It seemed that nobody could breach the enemy lines like she could, but then suddenly, an arrow hit one of Morgan's attackers' armor, just as he raised his axe to finish her off. It was only a few seconds hesitation, but that was all she was looking for. She quickly ran through the tactics in her head that would get her out of this situation.

I could charge the distracted guard, move back just so slightly for my men to reinforce me... That might give them too much time to lower the gate, so I should charge him, throw him into the other guards, possibly one that looks weaker than the others. I can create an opening with that and make-

Her thought was unfinished because a new distraction was created, the general's wyvern ramming into her attackers, screeching loudly at them. Or that. That works too. Balerion's attack completely caught all of the guards off... guard. Seeing as they had only expected pirates and were not aware of the current battle in the air. Morgan took her opportunity to slip by them, running past the gate just in time. She burst into the gate's mechanism room, bloody and very angry. "Keep the gate open, landlubbers, or I'll kill every one of you and toss ya into bits!" She was done playing games. The gloves came off when her crew was nowhere to be seen. She had no sympathy for anyone who got in her way when she was bleeding half to death.