Siege on the City of Heroes - North, Part 1(EVENT)

[Orcleous]

With a loud grunt and a strong swing Orcleous cut through the leather armor of the bandit like a hot knife through butter. The sharp edge of the silver sword glided through the air as the crimson liquid splattered the ground. Orcleous quickly raised his blade expecting another attack on the way, but for the moment the chaos had subsided. Order started to take shape around him as the defenders seemed to be moving into a defensive formation. About time thought Orcleous as he rushed to move back into the lines. Still he wondered what caused the bandits to pull back in time for them to form a defensive front. The swordsman was far to focus on his opponent at the time to notice.  

"Hey over here Silver Sword", shouted a voice across the battlefield. Orcleous turned to see the spear man that aided him earlier. He had fallen back into the defensive position and waved Orcleous down. Orc moved to join him, but he was soon attacked by bandits. Another axemen rushed forward and swung his axe at Orcleous. The swordsmen quickly side stepped the blow and slashed clean through the man's expose rib cage. Without wasting another moment Orcleous ducked into the line of soldiers and moved his way to the back of the defensive front. A man standing out alone was as good as dead. He need to find a place in the wall or at least stand on standby in case the defense opened up.

As Orcleosu rushed in he found himself standing in front of a shamen who was a bit bent over. "Yo are you alright", asked Orcleous as he looked at the man. The mercenary was taking the moment to regain his breath and talking to this guy seemed a good momentary distraction.

"Man fighting here is completely different than fighting in the field", spoke Orcleous. "Every time I cut one down another quickly moves to take his place. I almost died like six times already out there."

[Rogus]

Rogus jogged up next to the elder man, and motioned for him to wait. Zerachiel interested him just like a complex lock. He didn't need to justify it, the strange events that seemed to be following this man did that for him. He was sure the name he'd given him was likely false too. People only do that when they're up to something. Rogus loved solving puzzles. The only problem was, he feared this one might kill him if he mismatched some pieces. He'd have to be careful.

Need any help? He offered. Now with the prospect of not having to face Nacht Rogus was beginning to feel bored. Here he was on a battlefield watching like a vulture hovering over spoils. He'd recieved no orders, nor was he being attacked by the opposing force. He supposed if he should do something it should be with a man Nacht considered to be worth healing. What was more was that the man definitely wasn't a bandit, Rogus would rather die an accomplice to whatever kind of agent this man was than be lying face down in the plains next to smelly, ugly bandits. Then again, he would rather not die at all. Too late now, you already offered, idiot. He thought sarcastically.

You look like the "lone wolf" type, but I figured if i'm not going to run away from here, I might as well do something worth while. He paused and looked back at the battle, noticing a particular bandit rallying a few others... MINERVA? She didn't listen to him then... pity. If Zerachiel refused his offer, Rogus might as well go help her. Seriously, why was she still with these dogs? Rogus was positive he'd gotten through to her the last time they spoke. But, he was wrong. Again. Hopefully he wasn't wrong about the shady character he stood next to.

[Minerva]

Moving her mages to high ground, which here on the plains meant an extra two inches or so, the smoldering mage arranged her strike force with great care. Insulated behind the bandit lines, they were in a position of safety, and so could strike with impunity without needing to fear of a counterattack.

"Fire at will, and keep going until he doesn't dare to raise his head or cast. If you can't see him, fire in his general direction by watching the lines his casts travel along. I want him dead, I want him dead fast, and I want his head."

Raising her arms, Minerva summoned flames that coated her arms, swinging her clenched fists up and then swiping downward, releasing two balls of fire that shot off toward the last place she'd seen Dark One.

Upon seeing Minerva's cast, the other four mages sent their casts racing off as well, bombarding the general area with half a dozen fireballs.

"Die, Dark One! Die!"

[Orcleous]

Before Orc could get his answer a wave of fire seemed to rain down from the heavens. "What in the world", shouted the mercenary as he took off running. Fire balls began to rain down on the nearby position. The heat of the fires caught the grass on fire and the sudden burst of flames began to spook many in the defensive line.

As Orcleous ran for his life a fire ball flew down and slammed right into his right arm. The burning furry scorched his armor heating up Orcleous arm from underneath. Orcleous screamed in horror as the heated metal continued to cook his arm well after the magic has stopped doing its damage. I desperation Orcleous cut the straps from his arm and allowed the gauntlet to fall to the ground.

Orcleous screamed in agony as the cool air of the sacean plains bushed across his burned skin. "I swear I am going to kill who ever did this", vowed Orcleous as he looked at his cooked arm.

"By the holy saints", spoke a voice from behind Orcleous. Orcleous turned to see a healer rushing toward him with a mend staff. She began to use her healing power upon the mercenaries arm. Immediately Orcleous began to feel a soothing sensation as the magical power healed the burned flesh and began to restore his dark brown skin.

Where in the world did that attack come from. Thought Orcleous as he sat on the ground. He did not disturb  the healer as he feared the pain that would come if she did not finish her work. Instead Orcleous looked over the battlefield stretched out before him. He watched as fireballs rained down upon the defenders and followed their path back to the mages casting the magic. Now Orcleous had his target. However there was no way he was going to reach them if he tried pushing his way through the crowd of men.  

"There all done", spoke the maiden as she restored Orcleous arm. The mercenary moved his fingers and his arm to make sure everything was working properly. There was still a slight sting in it, but Orcleous did not mind. It was a good reminder for what he had to do.

"Thank you", spoke Orcleous as he rose off the ground. "Unfortunately I have work to do", he spoke.

"You are going to go back out there after receiving that kind of wound", asked the woman with concern.

"Of course", spoke Orcleous. As the mercenary began to walk off he started to strip himself of his armor. He was not going to need it. He needed to get in and hit the enemy hard and get out. The armor was good at making sure he was not dead, but it was a crutch against these fire mages. All they had to do is hit him with a few fire balls and then his own armor would turn into a literal frying pan.

Orcleous found it a bit ironic. For all the money he paid for that shinny new plate mail he was now throwing it away on the battlefield as if it was garbage. Rather than charge the lines Orcleous ran up to one of the houses near the wall. It was further away from the group of bandits he wanted to target, but it was closer to the wall than the previous. Orcleous judged he distance and gave a nod.

"Hey you guys", spoke Orcleous as he pointed to a few unarmored Saceans. "He follow me. We are going to get rid of the enemy mages", he spoke. The men looked at each other for a moment and then followed. Their faces however had a puzzled expression as the gate and the whole in the wall were no where near the building Orcleous was moving toward.

Quickly Orcleous climbed to the top of the building. He looked across and saw the 12 foot wall. Orcleous took a deep breath first and then suddenly bolted off into a sprint. The other soldiers looked on as if Orcleous was crazy. The mercenary jumped clear across from the building and passed over the wall. From there he rolled as he hit the ground.

"Crap", spoke Orcleous as he rose off the ground. He felt a sensation all over his body, but he was alive and that is what counts. "Alright you guys next, oh, don't forget to roll as you fall", shouted Orcleous. A few of the soldiers looked at each other first, but in the end they followed suit. Crossing over the wall Orcleous and his few men moved to try and hit the mages from behind. ironically enough the breach in the wall worked in their favor. Everyone was so focus on the combat in that area that they did not notice the seven soldiers hopping the wall.

"Time for some sweet old fashion revenge", spoke Orcleous as he drew his two swords from his back.

[Zerachiel]

Rogus came up to him, offering his assistance. It was an enticing proposal, but one that wouldn't end well for the younger thief undoubtedly. He was doing very dangerous work, even a single mistake is death, to be honest even a perfect show might mean death. It was highly skill intensive, and he simply didn't have the capability to slow himself down to allow the man to 'tag along' so to speak. No, there was little he could do to help outside of being a distraction. There were countless bandits he could get to do that however, and they were less likely to catch wise and come back for revenge. Usually he'd welcome the challenge, but he didn't want to worry about being stabbed in the back in the middle of trying to kill Kenshin.

Zerachiel gathered several items and stowed them away. "Unless you want to be a distraction and get yourself killed, there's not a whole lot you can do." He told the thief straight up, thinking about it for a moment. He needed someone to catch Richter's attention while he went for the hair, the man's reflexes would be too on edge from the chaos to make a sneak attack without a good distraction unlikely. Since he didn't plan to gut Richter, nor did he have the capability to do so despite the nice little bonus he'd be sure to get for doing so, it was more important that he did what he planned to do in one go and never look back. The longer he lingered, the more likely he was to be caught. After his attempt, successful or not, he wouldn't be able to easily target Richter again. Right now he's not expecting it, that's Zerachiel's advantage.

"I don't suppose you'd consider being a being a decoy for an angry man capable of turning you into a smear with a flick of the wrist would you?" He turned his head to Rogus, raising a brow and cocking a smug grin. "If not, I'm sure I can manage." He shrugged.

[Edrick]

So is this how it was? He had told the harlot to leave but she stayed anyways. She even went so far as to kick him while he was down. She would pay. He usually enchanting golden eyes shimmered with darkness, his hand still hurt from her kicking it, but it was of no matter now. After she had ran off he had gathered all of the archers and mages in the area. He would eliminate her for her treachery and in time justice shall be delivered. Heh, he'd make sure of it.

Once fireballs began to ascend into the air the mages returned fire only stopping those that would hit the line. The wall could be quickly put out so it didn't matter as much. "Archers, fire! Group one Volley your arrows, group two make your arch lower. Don't stop until the fireballs stop coming." The double assault of arrows should prevent them from stopping them all, if at all.

And so the waiting game began. With this area in this defensive position more bandits were dying every minute than the defenders, which was much better than it was a little bit ago. So Edrick began to focus his energy, recovering, while he waited for something else to happen to give orders to. At this point things were going well, except for the hole in the wall.

[Minerva]

Arrows. They started raining in like natural precipitation... Which was a good idea for trying to remove mages, but a bad idea when you had some bloodthirsty bandits on the front lines.

"You, there. Get some shields on the double, and some men to hold them to defend our mages."

The man nodded, leaving quickly as Minerva began barking some more orders.

"Keep firing. Archers, don't adjust your course. Simply continue barraging the defenders. Mages, keep going for the dark one. Aim near the rear of their lines, and occasionally light the wall up. That'll force them to put it out, and when you see one, archers, fill him up like a pincushion.

Tell the men on the front lines to take advantage of the enemy archers firing at my squad and smash through them. Tell them to fight hard and fast. Let's get this going."

What was next? The catapults, of course.

"Get the catapults ready to fire. Oil barrels again. Aim near the first hole. Let's enlarge it and threaten the structural stability of the entire sector."

Sending another fireball soaring as an afterthought, the mage grinned and shouted out,

"LAUNCH!"

[Orcleous]

"Is everyone in fighting condition", spoke Orcleous as he looked at his men. A few of them were rubbing their arms and shoulders, but they seemed alright.

"We are good to go", spoke one of the soldiers acting as the spokes person for everybody.

"Good then lets move out", spoke Orcleous as he began to move them away from the wall. The mercenary was keen on getting revenge and at the moment it seemed as if his target was in clear sight.

"Hey you louts", a voice shouted from behind Orcleous and his group. The swordsmen turned to see at least half a dozen brigands with axes. In their hands were a few hide shields and a couple of iron axes. The man standing in front of them looked tougher than the rest. He had a old scar slashing across his right eye and a look of authority. "What in the world do you cowards think you are doing", he spoke. "Get your buts to that wall or I will put a axe to you myself."

It was clear to Orcleous now that this man thought he and his sword wielding friends were brigands. Neither one of them wore the traditional sacean clothing and to be truthful he doubted they were from sacea at all. A lot of people came just to make the gold or to earn the glory. Not all the defenders were from this region. In this case it worked to their advantage. The bandit units were the same as they were. Many of them were from different gangs and wore different styles of armor. Neither force wore a uniform color. The only true way to tell friend from foe was by their position on the filed.

"Hold on a second", spoke Orcleous before his boy's could draw their blades and get into a fight before they reached their destination. "We have been ordered to back up the mages", spoke Orcleous as he pointed to the a curse fire wonder chick who burned his arm.

"Oh so you are the louts with the shields", spoke the Brigand as he looked them over. "Well you better get into position before that she devil burns your face off", he spoke as he began to wave for more brigands to join him in assaulting the open portion of the wall.

"Understood", spoke Orcleous as a devilish smile crossed his face. The mercenary sheathed his iron sword and grabbed the shield from his back. He and the others moved in to defend the mages as if they were another unit of brigands. The soldiers moved in and waited for a signal from Orcleous. Once the mercenary gave the sign they would assault the mages.

[Rogus]

Heh, maybe I should stay here then eh? Rogus chuckled and walked up next to the man. He pulled a rusty old coin from his boot and offered it out. I'm sorry but that task's out of my league. This coin here is for good luck. Don't know if you believe in that sort of stuff, but hey a little luck can't hurt. Rogus would toss the coin to him whether or not Zera took it. He had a feeling the man would be a strong ally if he lived. He also had the overwhelming urge to go help Minerva. Bandit or not, Rogus had a soft spot for the girl.

Don't lose your arm out there, ya' hear? Rogus said as he ran off. He waited for the next wave of bloodthirsty dullards ran out and took care to allow them to take any arrows for him until he managed to get to Minerva's position on the high ground just behind the bandit line. Rogus kept his eyes peeled for projectiles or other things that could kill him as he made his way through the archers and just behind the foolish girl. He waited til she finished her orders before trying to grab her arm and pull her to the relative safe area behind the catapult.

What are you doing here!? He shouted above the battle's noise. He should have stayed in the camp, the girl wasn't worth his time if she had failed to heed his advice. Too bad Rogus was nearly just as stubborn.

[Minerva]

Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm, and the mage spun to attack whoever grabbed her before seeing a familiar face.

"Rogus?! What the HELL are YOU doing here?"

The mage gave the thief a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, laughing with battle frenzy as she sent another blast of fire soaring. That damned shaman... He was going to get it, eventually. She'd strike him down.

"So what brought you out here? If you came for my sake, I'm touched. That's sweet. But really, we have to keep this front secure! The West collapsed, so now we've lost a whole quadrant to the Sacaeans! There's also an annoying Shaman that I need dead. He tried to take me prisoner and dragged me over fromt the West. C'mon, Rogus! We have to do something!"

[Edrick]

More More More. More fireballs, more arrows, more everything. That's all this was boiling down too, but he had more in him that she did. If she was that cowardly to be afraid to leave back there, but attack when he was weak. He knew he'd be able to out match her and all her pesky little mages. And once that was done everything else would come after. Next would probably be those catapults that just fired.

As the shots landed around, most missing the wall as they were probably not sighted in yet, a barrel landed nearby and crushed an archer spewing it's contents all over the man's body. A weird smell began to waft about, it was the small of . . . burning oil? Smart. Water would cause it to spread a bit. "Put these out with dirt! They are oil fires. Mages, focus on stopping them over enemy lines these are more important than the mages' fire." The mages around him began sending fire towards the other barrels that were being launched causing a few to fall onto enemy lines. That should teach them.

While he was focusing on the barrels however he failed to notice a fireball coming directly towards him. When he saw all e had time to do was to raise his arms to block the direct blast with the ball he was preparing. The blast made his arms a bright pink and singed the ends of his hair. "Time for some payback."

As more barrels rained down from above Edrick focused his energy, calling tendrils up from the area the mages were and sent the tendrils skyward, stopping a barrel right above them with a brute force impact. That falling barrel should prove a nice surprising for shorty and her crew. "That's what you get for trying to set me on fire."

[Orcleous]

"Get into position", spoke Orcleous as he and his men moved to form a shield wall next to the mages. The defensive formation was a rose set up by the mercenary in order to get closer to the mage's position. So far it was working. He and his brave few were able to move closer under the disguise of being bandit soldier. This very fact however told Orcleous two things. One that the enemy was not well organized, which was a good thing, and two people did not peg him as a hero. This might prove to be useful later after he had his vengeance. Though he was not sure how he was going to pull it off. Getting behind the enemy at the gate was easy, but getting back into the city, or not killed after doing the deed would be a lot harder.

Orcleous looked around for a moment as a few stray arrows hit a couple of his men's shields. They were close enough to the mages to attack and catch them off guard, but not far away from the main force for their assault to go unnoticed. Orcleous was going to need a distraction or at least something that would block everyone's view. Orcleous had no intentions of dying in this field. He still needed to return home and show off his new shinny sword to his parents. Looking around Orcleous noticed a few barrels hanging around. They were obviously siege weapons. They were probably filled with whatever they used to break a hole in the wall. This however proved advantages.

"Hold position", spoke Orcleous to one of his men as he began to walk away.

'What are you doing", asked one of the soldier.

"Making sure we don't die", spoke Orcleous as he walked toward the barrels. As the mercenary walked he noticed a woman and a man speaking. Orcleous did not pay them much mind, but kept a eye on the dude. From the look of him he was different from the other brigands around. He looked a bit more refined. Maybe he was a commander or something. Orcleous had to be sure to avoid him. He might notice that he did not belong. Still it mattered little now, thought Orcleous as he reached the barrels. The mercenary sniffed the wooden containers.

"Yep it is oil", spoke Orcleous as he took out his sword and cut the top the barrel.

"Hey what do you think you are doing", spoke a man as he walked up Orcleous.

"What does it look like", spoke the mercenary trying to play it off as if he was a normal brigand. "I am opening the barrlel and bringing it to the mages", he spoke.

"For the mages", spoke the man as a quire expression crossed his face. "What would the mages need oil for", he asked.

"I don't know", spoke Orcleous. "I am not a mage. It probably has something to do with fire magic or something. All I know is they told me to bring them this here Oil barrel over to their location. What they do with it is none of my business."

For a moment the man stared at Orcleous and then at the mages. He shrugged his shoulders and relented. "Whatever", he spoke. "It is not my business to be messing with the mages. I only came over here because we were saving this oil for the lamps."

"The siege comes first", spoke Orcleous. "Once we take this city there will be plenty of loot and plunder all around. I am sure somebody will have some lamp oil", spoke Orcleous.

"True enough", spoke the man as he walked off.

"That was close", spoke Orcleous under his breath as he began to move the barrel.

[Rogus]

Get me reinforcements. Rogus ignored the woman's questions. She was tactically incapable of doing anything but firing her magic at a single target, Rogus, however, was not. The man let her go with a slight push to indicate how mad he actually was with her. A battlefield was not a place to catch up. It was time for him to take command.

Sound the retreat up the hill, mages and catapults target the archers on the walls!-- crap! The shaman's redirected barrel landed and exploded over half of the mages, the blast momentarily dazing the thief, but he wasn't done yet. Sound the retreat, archers, and mages aim at the archers on the walls, catapults arm rocks and boulders, aim for their mages and shield wall! His shouts echoed acrossed the rearline, and soon the bandits began to do as he said. What remained of the bandit mages began to fire on the archers, killing enough to halt the constant arrow fire on the bandits below. The archers moved behind the mage line and aimed high.

Archers! FIRE! The two hundred or so archers had done as he asked and targeted the remaining archers on the wall. The sky filled with bandit arrows as the archers did as he said, but Rogus didn't wait to see the effect. Fire until their are none left! he called to the archers and they began to take aim once again. He still hadn't heard the retreat horn. Dammmit, who had it? Rogus wasted no time in finding a raather scrawny bandit trying to use the signal horn. He grabbed the object from the bandit's hand and blew three quick blasts of noise that would echo across the northern line.

The bandits, some relunctantly, began to turn tail and run straight up the hill where the rear-line forces were waiting. Rogus frowned as the bandits slowly made their way up. The sacaen defenses weren't comprised of professional soldiers, Rogus knew it too. It was likely that the retreat would spur the undisciplined shield line to break ranks and charge after the retreating bandits, and if they didn't the catapults would tear their pathetic shield wall apart. He held the horn in hand, ready to blow the two blast charge signal for when the shield wall fell apart to give chase. The men in the shield wall were no longer under fire, and it was fair to assume they would take that, and the fact that the catapults were no longer firing either, as a sign that the bandits were committing to the retreat. Rogus grinned, he could almost hear the sacaen force shouting victory. In addition to all the measures Rogus had taken, there seemed to be a lack of real leadership in the enemy forces.

Catapults! Ready your shots! Rogus shouted. If this didn't work Rogus had one last trick up his sleeve. His teachings from his knight training gave him some knowledge of the battlefield, which was more than most of the enemies could say. Rogus truly hated this work, but it was a matter of fufilling his debt to georg, if he won this battle his debt would be repaid and he could finally go back to being just another thief.

[Orcleous]

If there ever was a time for Orcleous to initiate his plan it was now. Some how the shaman on their side of the battlefield had caused one of the barrels to explode early and right above the mage. In that moment everyones eyes turned toward the explosion. Orcleous kicked over the barrel of oil that he had opened at the top and let it roll toward the mages. As it rolled the oil caught fire from the flames that were created from the smashed barrel and formed a wall of flame.

"Kill the Traitors", shouted Orcleous. The words were chosen well as they marked for his men who were hiding as defense for the mages to attack and served as a cover for their assault. At the moment there was a short pause as the heroes disguised as bandits did not know that was the signal. They recognized Orcleous voice and eventually they realized what was going on.

"Traitors", spoke a mage in confusion, but suddenly a sword pierced through his neck. The shield guard turned and began to assault the mages in close quarters. The sudden attack of the shield wall ceased the mages fire upon the house archers on the heroes side. The bandit forces looked up in confusion as they saw their own forces fighting each other.

Using the flames and the chaos of the fights below Orcleous rushed forward toward the most elderly looking mage in the group. In Orcleous mind he was probably the one who had the mages fire upon his position. Orcleous drew his sliver sword and ran the man through from behind. "Payback", spoke Orcleous as he withdrew his sword from the man's spine and began to move away. He wanted to be far away from this place as possible when the bandits started to piece together what was happening.

"Hey were is the boss", asked Orcleous to one of the bandits.

"Wait what", he spoke with confusion.

"Where is the Boss", spoke Orcleous with anger in his voice. "Stop playing around. I have a message I need to deliver to him from the front lines", spoke Orcleous playing as if he was a bandit messenger.

"You mean The Lord Reaper", spoke the Bandit.

"Dough who else", spoke Orcleous. He had no idea who that was, but agreeing with him worked better.

"Well he heading to the south right now", spoke the bandit as he pointed toward the route they used.

"The south, man I hope I catch him", spoke Orcleous as he walked off toward the route. "Suckers", spoke Orcleous under his breath as he walked the path and vanished into the wilderness. His time in the city of heroes was over.

[Exit Thread]

[Minerva]

"What the hell is going on?"

Minerva watched as men began to attack her mages. It was a trap! Somehow, a group had infiltrated their lines! Luckily, the vast majority of the bandits knew that the mages were indeed on their side, and so the battle quickly turned sour for the fake bandits. As a swordsman rushed towards her, Minerva released a blast of fire straight at the man, watching as his face began to smoke and his clothes began burning. That didn't stop the swinging sword, though, and the mage found herself with a slice across her abdomen. Swearing profusely, the woman fell back as the man died in agony, moving over to a healer, who began to seal the long slash.

"Hurry up!"

Once the job was done, Minerva looked around. Her mages, save one other, were all dead. There were some more in reserve, but for now, she'd let them think they'd won. Rogus was doing some sort of tactics, so she'd wait for his cues to do anything else. Her face contorted in a grimace of rage, Minerva surveyed the battle with disgust.