Game of Thrones the wheel spins
- Thread starter blueayes
- Start date
12
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
Tywin could feel the mountains anger and so could the girl's dragon, who positioned itself like a guard dog, that stood between dangerous enemy and its master.
Even now the creature, had flames pouring out of its mouth, it didn't attack.
No, it wouldn't disobey its master and Tywin knew, that if it so much as made a false move, the creature knew that those before it, would deal with both the girl and itself.
"I'm sorry" said the small brown hard girl, as she bowed her head.
The mountain for his part simply looked at her and closed his eyes. This exchange was over, however, a thought lingered inside Tywins mind.
"Was this staged?" the mountain was the strongest of them all and with one small girl, the people here had both measured the man's patience and ability to draw a sword. Not only that but Tywin was certain, that the mountain had hit the girl with a balled up first, but if that was true, then the dragon's reaction made sense.
Yet all of this brought up one more question, just how strong was this girl? for her to not have a scratch on her.
"Lord Tywin, please this way. You must be tired, we've prepared several rooms for you and your people." A man wearing a red knights armor, said to him.
Tywin for his part simply looked at the man and noticed that he and those around him wore different from those behind them. The man's red armor and wite shield separated him from those behind him that wore a white armor, next to him was a man that wore a dark gray armor, similar to the one, of the man that had greeted them and led them to the city.
It was a strange thing walking up to an unknown palace, whether this was a lords home, a small houses estate or whatever no one amongst them knew and truthfully none cared. What they all did care about, however, was simply knowing how to use what little information they had up until now.
The sun was starting to set, soon it would be dark and they would be at the complete mercy of these strangers.
They walked up to a large mansion made of red and white stone, the walls were red and the pillars where white, while the windows were dark and colored white on the side, almost as if the castle itself was designed to look like a bloodied corpse.
They walked past a large pair of white doors, immediately Tywin noticed that the smell of cinnamon lingerd in the inside of the castle, brownstone was used for the floor, while the ceiling was white, a large set of brownstone stairs were immediately in front of them.
Immediately servants began to gather, both men and woman immediately bowed their heads welcoming them.
Tywin would have normally thought that this was a failure in the organization of the house, except this want the case, no from the very beginning these people had been playing their game, not once had he and those comparing him, had been left alone.
Tywin knew this by the way the servants moved, it was too coordinated, not in the way servants ideally gather, no more like it was practiced, but not perfected like it should have been and yet there was a level of confidence, in each servant's footsteps.
Almost as if these weren't servants at all, Tywin felt his eyes harden, now he understood what was going on, these weren't servants, no these were knights/soldiers acting the parts given to them.
This spoke far more than one could ever believe, either this place was so dangerous that knights were used for both low-level work or these people had something to hide and neither option was one Tywin felt the least bit welcoming to.
They were all led to their rooms, which I turn were simple things that had nothing more than a bed and white walls.
Tywin would have thought of this as an insult, however, it made more sense to keep a guest safe, so having a little as possible within the room made sense. Plus the bed itself was incredibly comfortable.
The sun had nearly completely set now, they would spend two days here and in those two days they would see just how much of a threat these people truly were.
(Character change Myrcella Lannister)
Her servants followed closely behind her alongside their guards, it was interesting to see this new place, for one the entire building was completely bright even if the outside was completely dark. Alongside them were the many ladies, that accompanied their husbands, of course their own separate guards were with them, each one of them were equally curious to see the mysteries this palace had.
Soon the sound of children laughing could be heard, they walked closer and closer until they found several women alongside small children, some of the women wore knight armor, while others wore nothing more than simple black dresses.
Yet what bought their eyes was the sight of the strange creatures that moved around them, one in particular caught Myrcellas eye, it was the same blue dragon that was with the small girl earlier. As Myrcella looked around she found the brown hair girl smiling happily with another woman that was dressed in white armor.
The woman was attending to a small black-haired girl that was wearing similar clothes to those of the other children around her.
"So do you remember how to match?" The woman asked the small black haired girl who in turn simply molded.
"Tomorrow is your first day of school" the woman said before taking the small black hard girl into a right hug. This was the girl's mother, Myrcella realized, before one of the women noticed her and the rest of the ladies presence.
Even now the creature, had flames pouring out of its mouth, it didn't attack.
No, it wouldn't disobey its master and Tywin knew, that if it so much as made a false move, the creature knew that those before it, would deal with both the girl and itself.
"I'm sorry" said the small brown hard girl, as she bowed her head.
The mountain for his part simply looked at her and closed his eyes. This exchange was over, however, a thought lingered inside Tywins mind.
"Was this staged?" the mountain was the strongest of them all and with one small girl, the people here had both measured the man's patience and ability to draw a sword. Not only that but Tywin was certain, that the mountain had hit the girl with a balled up first, but if that was true, then the dragon's reaction made sense.
Yet all of this brought up one more question, just how strong was this girl? for her to not have a scratch on her.
"Lord Tywin, please this way. You must be tired, we've prepared several rooms for you and your people." A man wearing a red knights armor, said to him.
Tywin for his part simply looked at the man and noticed that he and those around him wore different from those behind them. The man's red armor and wite shield separated him from those behind him that wore a white armor, next to him was a man that wore a dark gray armor, similar to the one, of the man that had greeted them and led them to the city.
It was a strange thing walking up to an unknown palace, whether this was a lords home, a small houses estate or whatever no one amongst them knew and truthfully none cared. What they all did care about, however, was simply knowing how to use what little information they had up until now.
The sun was starting to set, soon it would be dark and they would be at the complete mercy of these strangers.
They walked up to a large mansion made of red and white stone, the walls were red and the pillars where white, while the windows were dark and colored white on the side, almost as if the castle itself was designed to look like a bloodied corpse.
They walked past a large pair of white doors, immediately Tywin noticed that the smell of cinnamon lingerd in the inside of the castle, brownstone was used for the floor, while the ceiling was white, a large set of brownstone stairs were immediately in front of them.
Immediately servants began to gather, both men and woman immediately bowed their heads welcoming them.
Tywin would have normally thought that this was a failure in the organization of the house, except this want the case, no from the very beginning these people had been playing their game, not once had he and those comparing him, had been left alone.
Tywin knew this by the way the servants moved, it was too coordinated, not in the way servants ideally gather, no more like it was practiced, but not perfected like it should have been and yet there was a level of confidence, in each servant's footsteps.
Almost as if these weren't servants at all, Tywin felt his eyes harden, now he understood what was going on, these weren't servants, no these were knights/soldiers acting the parts given to them.
This spoke far more than one could ever believe, either this place was so dangerous that knights were used for both low-level work or these people had something to hide and neither option was one Tywin felt the least bit welcoming to.
They were all led to their rooms, which I turn were simple things that had nothing more than a bed and white walls.
Tywin would have thought of this as an insult, however, it made more sense to keep a guest safe, so having a little as possible within the room made sense. Plus the bed itself was incredibly comfortable.
The sun had nearly completely set now, they would spend two days here and in those two days they would see just how much of a threat these people truly were.
(Character change Myrcella Lannister)
Her servants followed closely behind her alongside their guards, it was interesting to see this new place, for one the entire building was completely bright even if the outside was completely dark. Alongside them were the many ladies, that accompanied their husbands, of course their own separate guards were with them, each one of them were equally curious to see the mysteries this palace had.
Soon the sound of children laughing could be heard, they walked closer and closer until they found several women alongside small children, some of the women wore knight armor, while others wore nothing more than simple black dresses.
Yet what bought their eyes was the sight of the strange creatures that moved around them, one in particular caught Myrcellas eye, it was the same blue dragon that was with the small girl earlier. As Myrcella looked around she found the brown hair girl smiling happily with another woman that was dressed in white armor.
The woman was attending to a small black-haired girl that was wearing similar clothes to those of the other children around her.
"So do you remember how to match?" The woman asked the small black haired girl who in turn simply molded.
"Tomorrow is your first day of school" the woman said before taking the small black hard girl into a right hug. This was the girl's mother, Myrcella realized, before one of the women noticed her and the rest of the ladies presence.
13
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
Myrcella stared at the two for a long moment, there was reason for her to do so, not at all really, being a Baratheon, she knew that her father had many bastards, in fact every house had them.
Whether it was from the woman's extra affairs, or the head of the houses taking of whatever girl pleased his eyes, the simple fact was that bastards were everywhere.
Yet this, this was something different, never had she heard about a woman taking her husbands bastard and loving it, as it was her own.
No, usually the unwanted children were cast aside or sent away, simply for them not to be an eyesore and yet the small black haired girl looked nothing like the woman holding her. True, both were thin, had a small chest and seemed to ignore all actions that a lady should know.
Granted the girl could simply take after her father and it was for this reason that she had black hair and black eyes, perhaps it was something along the lines like how her and her siblings all had the Lannister golden hair and purple eyes, despite being Baratheons.
Her elder brother sure proved this by the way he acted, he may have not looked like their father, but he did act like him.
Perhaps it was something like that.
A hiss behind her, alerted her of a snake that must have entered the castle by accident, yell Myrcella felt her eyes widen at the sight of the massive python slithering past her and the comparing ladies.
On the creatures back rode five children all laughing, it was a strange sight, not one unwelcomed and certainly not well received. The creature could easily devour the little ones and still be hungry and yet, the children seemed perfectly safe.
She about to introduce herself when a man dressed in black armor walked into the room and with him was all too familiar smell, a mixture of milk and iron, blood coated the air now, Myrcella turned to look at her guards and noticed that even those comparing the other ladies had placed themselves between the ladies and the man, by pure instinct.
Her guards were no different, yet as Myrcella continued to look at what was happening before her, she saw the same black hair girl run up to the man with wide open hands.
"Papa!" The black haired girl called out to the man, who in turn picked the small girl up and carried her back to her mother.
The two looked at each other before a smile grew on both their faces. "We dealt with the three Pegacorns, the research team is looking into them now. If I didn't know any better, Id swear they were using magic, but that's impossible." The man told the woman.
My cell watched as the woman stretched her thin had up to the man's lips silencing him, her thin body, despite being covered in white armor, still displayed the woman's thin feminism figure and the two embraced one another in a warm kiss.
The woman light hazel-brown hair and light brown eyes, contradicted the man's short black hair and black eyes.
Myrcella thought to herself this must be the girl's father.
"Why don't you join us?" A girls voice reached Mycellas ears and when she turned to see who it was, she found that it was the same brown-haired girl from earlier, her strange blue dragon was once again the size of a house cat.
The girl was looking straight at a group of servants, who in turn looked at the various ladies and knights.
None of them spoke against it and so the servants followed the small girl towards the gathering of women and children.
"We're getting ready for the first day of school, so we're just putting the finishing touches on these little one's new uniforms" the brown haired girl said.
"Excuse me, but what are the pins the children are wearing." As servant asked.
"Oh that, each guild or team has an emblem, but we can't just give small children those things to carry, they would lose them. So it's easier to pin them to the children clothes." The girl said before pausing for a moment.
"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Silica, a beast tamer." The girl introduced herself, while at the same time, her dragon let out a small roar.
Immediately after the servants introduced themselves, yet it was only after they were done, that one of the accompanying ladies dared to speak up.
"I noticed that some children have red hats, while others have yellow or white hats?" The woman asked.
"That's for them to tell to which class they belong to, small children recognize simple things quickly." The girl answered.
The rest of the night passed quickly and both the ladies and the woman spent it simply making small talk, until it was time to return to their rooms and actually sleep. My cell wasn't certain and in truth hoped that the rest of the ladies noticed, that as the night passed, slowly knights dressed in different colored armors gathered around the room.
It was only at the last moments, when Myrcella was walking away, that she noticed that each child alongside one or two women ran up to one of the knights. A thought entered Myrcellas mind, something had happened and as direct result, the women and children had been sent here for their own protection.
(Character change Kirito)
Asuna had fallen asleep, with her Yiu was sleeping comfortably, their sleeping faces were so peaceful.
A few days ago, three monsters had come down from one or several of the higher floors, because they were high-level monsters the ones on the lower floors couldn't deal with them. Fortunately, the floor bossed didn't stand for it and so immediately began to deal with any monsters that had begun to follow those three.
Truthfully the cleaners, the players who had been dealing with the monster that caused trouble would have ignored the three, had they not started to attack human villages.
They left no survivors.
A pink, a white and a black Pegacorn, it took half of all the cleaners to deal with the three and the players only managed to kill them, with the help of several field and floor bosses. Somehow, those three monsters could manipulate the are around them, fire solar beams, create force fields and even mind control.
Things were getting more and more dangerous as the days passed and the players were already stretched thin, so having to deal with problems from the outside, could break the few defenses the castle had.
Still Kirito couldn't help but skill, tomorrow was Yui's first day of school and he would have a front role seat to it.
(Character change)
Whether it was from the woman's extra affairs, or the head of the houses taking of whatever girl pleased his eyes, the simple fact was that bastards were everywhere.
Yet this, this was something different, never had she heard about a woman taking her husbands bastard and loving it, as it was her own.
No, usually the unwanted children were cast aside or sent away, simply for them not to be an eyesore and yet the small black haired girl looked nothing like the woman holding her. True, both were thin, had a small chest and seemed to ignore all actions that a lady should know.
Granted the girl could simply take after her father and it was for this reason that she had black hair and black eyes, perhaps it was something along the lines like how her and her siblings all had the Lannister golden hair and purple eyes, despite being Baratheons.
Her elder brother sure proved this by the way he acted, he may have not looked like their father, but he did act like him.
Perhaps it was something like that.
A hiss behind her, alerted her of a snake that must have entered the castle by accident, yell Myrcella felt her eyes widen at the sight of the massive python slithering past her and the comparing ladies.
On the creatures back rode five children all laughing, it was a strange sight, not one unwelcomed and certainly not well received. The creature could easily devour the little ones and still be hungry and yet, the children seemed perfectly safe.
She about to introduce herself when a man dressed in black armor walked into the room and with him was all too familiar smell, a mixture of milk and iron, blood coated the air now, Myrcella turned to look at her guards and noticed that even those comparing the other ladies had placed themselves between the ladies and the man, by pure instinct.
Her guards were no different, yet as Myrcella continued to look at what was happening before her, she saw the same black hair girl run up to the man with wide open hands.
"Papa!" The black haired girl called out to the man, who in turn picked the small girl up and carried her back to her mother.
The two looked at each other before a smile grew on both their faces. "We dealt with the three Pegacorns, the research team is looking into them now. If I didn't know any better, Id swear they were using magic, but that's impossible." The man told the woman.
My cell watched as the woman stretched her thin had up to the man's lips silencing him, her thin body, despite being covered in white armor, still displayed the woman's thin feminism figure and the two embraced one another in a warm kiss.
The woman light hazel-brown hair and light brown eyes, contradicted the man's short black hair and black eyes.
Myrcella thought to herself this must be the girl's father.
"Why don't you join us?" A girls voice reached Mycellas ears and when she turned to see who it was, she found that it was the same brown-haired girl from earlier, her strange blue dragon was once again the size of a house cat.
The girl was looking straight at a group of servants, who in turn looked at the various ladies and knights.
None of them spoke against it and so the servants followed the small girl towards the gathering of women and children.
"We're getting ready for the first day of school, so we're just putting the finishing touches on these little one's new uniforms" the brown haired girl said.
"Excuse me, but what are the pins the children are wearing." As servant asked.
"Oh that, each guild or team has an emblem, but we can't just give small children those things to carry, they would lose them. So it's easier to pin them to the children clothes." The girl said before pausing for a moment.
"I forgot to introduce myself, my name is Silica, a beast tamer." The girl introduced herself, while at the same time, her dragon let out a small roar.
Immediately after the servants introduced themselves, yet it was only after they were done, that one of the accompanying ladies dared to speak up.
"I noticed that some children have red hats, while others have yellow or white hats?" The woman asked.
"That's for them to tell to which class they belong to, small children recognize simple things quickly." The girl answered.
The rest of the night passed quickly and both the ladies and the woman spent it simply making small talk, until it was time to return to their rooms and actually sleep. My cell wasn't certain and in truth hoped that the rest of the ladies noticed, that as the night passed, slowly knights dressed in different colored armors gathered around the room.
It was only at the last moments, when Myrcella was walking away, that she noticed that each child alongside one or two women ran up to one of the knights. A thought entered Myrcellas mind, something had happened and as direct result, the women and children had been sent here for their own protection.
(Character change Kirito)
Asuna had fallen asleep, with her Yiu was sleeping comfortably, their sleeping faces were so peaceful.
A few days ago, three monsters had come down from one or several of the higher floors, because they were high-level monsters the ones on the lower floors couldn't deal with them. Fortunately, the floor bossed didn't stand for it and so immediately began to deal with any monsters that had begun to follow those three.
Truthfully the cleaners, the players who had been dealing with the monster that caused trouble would have ignored the three, had they not started to attack human villages.
They left no survivors.
A pink, a white and a black Pegacorn, it took half of all the cleaners to deal with the three and the players only managed to kill them, with the help of several field and floor bosses. Somehow, those three monsters could manipulate the are around them, fire solar beams, create force fields and even mind control.
Things were getting more and more dangerous as the days passed and the players were already stretched thin, so having to deal with problems from the outside, could break the few defenses the castle had.
Still Kirito couldn't help but skill, tomorrow was Yui's first day of school and he would have a front role seat to it.
(Character change)
14
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
The sound of bells, drums and feet walking in union could be heard across the city, even before the sun had risen, mothers and fathers had woken up early to prepare a meal for their children, the smell of bread, freshly cooked meat and vegetables spread thought the once quiet streets.
Banners and flags of all sizes and colors decorated the buildings, while the elderly and the infants looked out their windows, those that did not have children simply wondered, what was all of the excitement about.
On the highest of buildings as well as the lowest of sugars men-women and monsters watched intrigued and so stopped to watch what was going on.
One by one, in pairs or in small groups boy, girls both young and in their teens began to walk, their mothers either held their hands or walked closely behind them.
Small children jumped with joy, excited about what was going on, while the elder teens, walked either feeling like if they were stepping on a razor's edge or simply gossiped and joked with those they knew.
Slowly lines began to form as proud fathers watched their children form small bundles of colors, red hats with matching red capes, both great and small stood next to blue hats with blue capes, green hats stood besides yellow hats and green capes stood besides yellow capes.
The bundles slowly became lines that were formed from the smallest of them all, the larger and strongest amongst them.
Their uniforms were chosen for the strength of their materials and the fact that if they were to get dirty or torn, they could be easily ignored or replaced.
On every child's chest, the insignia of one of the guilds or teams emblems was proudly polishes and won't for all to see.
There were exceptions of course, noble houses from within the castle had used the three pegacorns attacks to hide within the city and as such managed to place their families emblems amongst the first generations.
There were also those that had already formed guilds or teams and as such chose to keep them and finally the few players that had either had children with them or had adopted from amongst those brought to this world with them or from amongst the castles people, gave their emblems to their children hoping that they would make them into something greater and even if they couldn't, it was good for the children not to be apart of any major group.
Too many tracks came from something like that.
At every teen's side was a small bag, each holding paler and pencils, while the little ones held crayons and soft paper, things that wouldn't hurt small children.
As the children began to walk, drums began to beat and slowly the players either parents of some of the children or those that would act as simple guards began to join the march.
Tywin watched everything carefully, he had been told about this by Myrcella and was about to yell at the girl for leaving her room and dragging so many people with her, until he realized that either the encounter could have been staged or something had happened for something like this to be happening, when he was visiting this land.
Like a distraction for the people, something to keep them from overthinking about things they shouldn't have. He himself had done this, several times before and it had proven effective.
Regardless, all of this did show Tywin one thing in particular, these people were severely weakened, the amount of defenses for such a small gathering of people, no matter how important shouldn't have been so sloppy and even if these were the next generation.
Why have them walk amongst those that could do them harm?
No, there were too many questions and far too few answers. Everything was a move and everything he saw could be lies, truths or half-truths, all set up to confuse him and those with him.
Tywin sat both frustrated and entirely calm, so far negotiations had gone smoothly, neither side would be allowed to set foot on the others land, while only a signed document would allow men and women to cross the boarders openly.
Both sides would build a wall on each side of the beach to keep watch for less than savory things, while eight feet would remain part of the islands ocean territory on the other direction would remain entirely of Tywins himself.
In truth nothing had been gained and nothing had been lost, but up until now it had been nothing more than formality.
Now came the real mind games.
Tywin had enough experience to know when someone was watching him, even when that person was invisible to all of his senses, being in war makes a person develop such skills and Tywin knew that spies were fighting spies all over the city.
In fact his guard, as well as the ones comparing those he had brought with him, were completely on edge the intent to kill came from one direction, only to be met by another, before the two vanished, the only thing proving that none of them were going insane, was the fact that the sound of metal hitting metal could be heard.
Still, negotiations were over, like it or not neither side was willing nor capable of doing anything to the other at the moment.
Despite the people of the strange island being at their weakest, the creatures that lived on the island could and would easily overwhelm his men, should an invasion of the island ever happen.
No by what little Tywin had seen, it was more than obvious that any attempts to go deeper into the island and climb the mountain was nothing short of insanity.
Dragons flew in the skies here, they did so besides giant birds and small children kept dogs the size of lions as pets.
The city itself had decent guards, even if they were only a few of them, but what disturbed Tywin, was the strange knight's eyes. Despite appearing old or young, each and every one of them had the eyes of a killer and the eyes of someone that had experienced great loss.
That alone was extremely frightening, few people could experience such things and remain combat effective, most just went insane and killed everything in front of them and became more beast than men and yet every knight here, acted like if they were in complete control.
One of two things was happening, one either they had all come back from their madness or this place was so dangerous, that it provided the perfect environment, for these mad men and women to release their blood lust and calm their insanity.
Still, officially negotiations had ended, that didn't mean they had stopped, it now turned for his men to act, women would bed men and use their ears to listen for any sort of information, while more enlightened men would use their silver tongues to get whatever they wanted.
They had two days and the sun had barely risen, before it set Tywin would know the history of this land, whether it was fabricated one or a true one didn't matter, people lie using what they know and eventually Tywin would know the truth.
No matter what it was.
A servant girl walks in carrying meats, bread and fine wines, Tywin watches as his men take a bite out of each piece of meat and take a drink from his cup and directly from the bottle holding the wine itself.
Neither were poisoned, intact his means stomachs growed demanding more. Tywin nearly smiled, he would not give any of his guards anymore, this was given to him and should he give any to them, it could easily be taken as an insult.
Something along the lines of, we gave him our best food and he gives it to the dogs.
The door swings open once again and Tywin sees his granddaughter smiling joyfully, she was accompanied by several servants and her personal Septa. The girls presence was like a blast of warm wind lighting up, the cold room Tywin was in, in fact even his guards seemed to smile as the girl walked in.
"Grandfather, you should have seen it. The little one's feet moved quickly as they tried to keep up with their elders, while the elders slowly began to learn to walk in union." The girl said to him, providing her ideal pointless gossip.
Yet there was something there, something that caught his interest.
"What do you mean they walked in union?" Tywin asked the girl.
"Well..." Marcella said as she placed a finger to her chin.
"At first they were completely disorganized, then they began to match the way the one in front of them walked and soon they all were walking exactly the same" the girl answered him, before taking a fork and taking a piece of meat for her self and taking several more, which she gave to her servants and her Septa.
This was troubling, what he had seen earlier was not a gathering for simple studies, but the footwork training for the next generation. Even the next day's march was quiet, the children would know what was expected of them and would attempt to imitate it again."
"Clever." Tywin said in a voice so quiet that even Myrcella was unable to hear it.
The people here we're rebuilding quicker than Tywin himself could have anticipated, unfortunately, this meant that the two-day visit would have to be cut to a single day, there were too many unknowns and if he or his men were to be captured than the consequences would be far worse than Tywin could imagine.
Banners and flags of all sizes and colors decorated the buildings, while the elderly and the infants looked out their windows, those that did not have children simply wondered, what was all of the excitement about.
On the highest of buildings as well as the lowest of sugars men-women and monsters watched intrigued and so stopped to watch what was going on.
One by one, in pairs or in small groups boy, girls both young and in their teens began to walk, their mothers either held their hands or walked closely behind them.
Small children jumped with joy, excited about what was going on, while the elder teens, walked either feeling like if they were stepping on a razor's edge or simply gossiped and joked with those they knew.
Slowly lines began to form as proud fathers watched their children form small bundles of colors, red hats with matching red capes, both great and small stood next to blue hats with blue capes, green hats stood besides yellow hats and green capes stood besides yellow capes.
The bundles slowly became lines that were formed from the smallest of them all, the larger and strongest amongst them.
Their uniforms were chosen for the strength of their materials and the fact that if they were to get dirty or torn, they could be easily ignored or replaced.
On every child's chest, the insignia of one of the guilds or teams emblems was proudly polishes and won't for all to see.
There were exceptions of course, noble houses from within the castle had used the three pegacorns attacks to hide within the city and as such managed to place their families emblems amongst the first generations.
There were also those that had already formed guilds or teams and as such chose to keep them and finally the few players that had either had children with them or had adopted from amongst those brought to this world with them or from amongst the castles people, gave their emblems to their children hoping that they would make them into something greater and even if they couldn't, it was good for the children not to be apart of any major group.
Too many tracks came from something like that.
At every teen's side was a small bag, each holding paler and pencils, while the little ones held crayons and soft paper, things that wouldn't hurt small children.
As the children began to walk, drums began to beat and slowly the players either parents of some of the children or those that would act as simple guards began to join the march.
Tywin watched everything carefully, he had been told about this by Myrcella and was about to yell at the girl for leaving her room and dragging so many people with her, until he realized that either the encounter could have been staged or something had happened for something like this to be happening, when he was visiting this land.
Like a distraction for the people, something to keep them from overthinking about things they shouldn't have. He himself had done this, several times before and it had proven effective.
Regardless, all of this did show Tywin one thing in particular, these people were severely weakened, the amount of defenses for such a small gathering of people, no matter how important shouldn't have been so sloppy and even if these were the next generation.
Why have them walk amongst those that could do them harm?
No, there were too many questions and far too few answers. Everything was a move and everything he saw could be lies, truths or half-truths, all set up to confuse him and those with him.
Tywin sat both frustrated and entirely calm, so far negotiations had gone smoothly, neither side would be allowed to set foot on the others land, while only a signed document would allow men and women to cross the boarders openly.
Both sides would build a wall on each side of the beach to keep watch for less than savory things, while eight feet would remain part of the islands ocean territory on the other direction would remain entirely of Tywins himself.
In truth nothing had been gained and nothing had been lost, but up until now it had been nothing more than formality.
Now came the real mind games.
Tywin had enough experience to know when someone was watching him, even when that person was invisible to all of his senses, being in war makes a person develop such skills and Tywin knew that spies were fighting spies all over the city.
In fact his guard, as well as the ones comparing those he had brought with him, were completely on edge the intent to kill came from one direction, only to be met by another, before the two vanished, the only thing proving that none of them were going insane, was the fact that the sound of metal hitting metal could be heard.
Still, negotiations were over, like it or not neither side was willing nor capable of doing anything to the other at the moment.
Despite the people of the strange island being at their weakest, the creatures that lived on the island could and would easily overwhelm his men, should an invasion of the island ever happen.
No by what little Tywin had seen, it was more than obvious that any attempts to go deeper into the island and climb the mountain was nothing short of insanity.
Dragons flew in the skies here, they did so besides giant birds and small children kept dogs the size of lions as pets.
The city itself had decent guards, even if they were only a few of them, but what disturbed Tywin, was the strange knight's eyes. Despite appearing old or young, each and every one of them had the eyes of a killer and the eyes of someone that had experienced great loss.
That alone was extremely frightening, few people could experience such things and remain combat effective, most just went insane and killed everything in front of them and became more beast than men and yet every knight here, acted like if they were in complete control.
One of two things was happening, one either they had all come back from their madness or this place was so dangerous, that it provided the perfect environment, for these mad men and women to release their blood lust and calm their insanity.
Still, officially negotiations had ended, that didn't mean they had stopped, it now turned for his men to act, women would bed men and use their ears to listen for any sort of information, while more enlightened men would use their silver tongues to get whatever they wanted.
They had two days and the sun had barely risen, before it set Tywin would know the history of this land, whether it was fabricated one or a true one didn't matter, people lie using what they know and eventually Tywin would know the truth.
No matter what it was.
A servant girl walks in carrying meats, bread and fine wines, Tywin watches as his men take a bite out of each piece of meat and take a drink from his cup and directly from the bottle holding the wine itself.
Neither were poisoned, intact his means stomachs growed demanding more. Tywin nearly smiled, he would not give any of his guards anymore, this was given to him and should he give any to them, it could easily be taken as an insult.
Something along the lines of, we gave him our best food and he gives it to the dogs.
The door swings open once again and Tywin sees his granddaughter smiling joyfully, she was accompanied by several servants and her personal Septa. The girls presence was like a blast of warm wind lighting up, the cold room Tywin was in, in fact even his guards seemed to smile as the girl walked in.
"Grandfather, you should have seen it. The little one's feet moved quickly as they tried to keep up with their elders, while the elders slowly began to learn to walk in union." The girl said to him, providing her ideal pointless gossip.
Yet there was something there, something that caught his interest.
"What do you mean they walked in union?" Tywin asked the girl.
"Well..." Marcella said as she placed a finger to her chin.
"At first they were completely disorganized, then they began to match the way the one in front of them walked and soon they all were walking exactly the same" the girl answered him, before taking a fork and taking a piece of meat for her self and taking several more, which she gave to her servants and her Septa.
This was troubling, what he had seen earlier was not a gathering for simple studies, but the footwork training for the next generation. Even the next day's march was quiet, the children would know what was expected of them and would attempt to imitate it again."
"Clever." Tywin said in a voice so quiet that even Myrcella was unable to hear it.
The people here we're rebuilding quicker than Tywin himself could have anticipated, unfortunately, this meant that the two-day visit would have to be cut to a single day, there were too many unknowns and if he or his men were to be captured than the consequences would be far worse than Tywin could imagine.
15
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
The cold wind blew tightening her, even as she hailed her breath became a light most, which was odd considering that every time, she took a breath it felt like if the cold air would freeze her lungs.
There were words spoken in whispers by the lower classes, things that would and could easily be ignored, had it not been for the sheer number of them all.
Still, none of the stories were of any consequences, after all the stories originated from the lower floors and everyone knew that the lower floors were of little to no danger to the people themselves.
After all even the lowest of peasants from her territory was capable of fighting the strongest of all the monsters on the lower floors and yet something had happened, something that had changed everything.
Soon knights and young nobles that wanted to have some fun with the lower classes, began to hear stories that were quickly becoming legends.
A single knight that faced of against creatures of nightmare made his last stand and emerged victoriously.
Adventurers discovering ancient long lost dungeons and exploring the depths of those dark places, all the while fighting off the monsters that lived in them.
There were songs of a knight that wore red armor and held a white shield, the songs spoke of him along with his men that wore white armor and how they faced off against countless monsters, as the people worked building a road.
One of the wildest stories she herself had heard when she went out for a drink, was how alone swordsman fought for nine days and ten nights, against a long-dead worrier and upon defeating the carrier, the Black swordsman earned the fallen warriors armor as a reward.
The stories continued, but in reality, no one of real importance cared, that is until something happened.
Once in a while merchants would travel to the lands below and sell whatever exes materials they had, they would overcharge the lower level people for things that they normally would never be able to get where they lived and yet few if any of them were able to sell anything at all.
This was a problem, normally the crown would take a portion of these sales and if there was no one buying than the crown couldn't gain any extra coins.
Messenger were sent to the kings and queens bellow, all of which said the same thing. Go talk to the Adventurers.
Do spies were sent out to see what was going on, what they found was impossible, towns and cities had protective walls built around them, normally this wouldn't have been anything unusual, had it not been that the walls were built with stone several times stronger than that, that was found in their floors.
Reports of people going into towers or dungeons and bringing out corpses of monsters by the dozens started to arrive and drawings of roads that connected small villages together were built in such a way, that if a monster of bandits did attack, people could flee with ought ever being seen by the attackers.
Roads that only knights and merchants travel in, connected the larger cities and towns with the smallest of villages.
Yet what was most disturbing of it all was what she had just heard.
Several assassins had been sent out, to deal with the danger of who or what these adventurers were, only to be stopped by the adventurers themselves. The fact that the adventurers or players as they liked to call themselves were reluctant to kill a person, made the assassins confident in their victory.
That is until one of the sasins aimed for a gathering of children, it was in the blink of a n eye, when a man dressed on black clothing wielding two swords, rendered several assassins unconscious, while several more had their heads cut off, by a woman with a tattoo of a coffin that was smiling.
The man died immediately after giving his report, a large cut across his back, it was only the man's sheer force of will, that allowed him to live long enough to give his report.
"It's cold" Mordred said to herself as she thought about what she had just heard.
She stood there looking at the man's corps before releasing a blast of pure energy, leaving no trace that a corpse had ever been there. The man's family would only know he had abandoned them, such was the fate of assassins and spies.
(Elsewhere)
He walked down the lines several floors filled to the brim with books, scrolls and parchments, poems, stories, legends and detailed explanation of how to do things were present where ever he looked.
His old hands shook as he opens a scroll and he was met with the designs of a device for distributing water to an entire city.
He couldn't hold back his smile, even his elderly face seemed to lose fifty years, at the sight before him. This, this place, was open for everyone, a fountain of knowledge freely given to the people, each thing held here was invaluable.
To think that after all these years he would find such a place and yet even he knew that this small library was not even a fraction of what these people knew.
Despite his years, he still held his incredible memory and he would remember every design, every plan he laid his old eyes on. Some were so complex, that he was certain that entire generations could pass and they wouldn't even be able to build these wonders.
Others were so simple, that even now lord Tywins men could construct them and yet they were so complexed that it would take months before just one of them could be completed. Still, he continued to open scrolls and gain new knowledge.
There were words spoken in whispers by the lower classes, things that would and could easily be ignored, had it not been for the sheer number of them all.
Still, none of the stories were of any consequences, after all the stories originated from the lower floors and everyone knew that the lower floors were of little to no danger to the people themselves.
After all even the lowest of peasants from her territory was capable of fighting the strongest of all the monsters on the lower floors and yet something had happened, something that had changed everything.
Soon knights and young nobles that wanted to have some fun with the lower classes, began to hear stories that were quickly becoming legends.
A single knight that faced of against creatures of nightmare made his last stand and emerged victoriously.
Adventurers discovering ancient long lost dungeons and exploring the depths of those dark places, all the while fighting off the monsters that lived in them.
There were songs of a knight that wore red armor and held a white shield, the songs spoke of him along with his men that wore white armor and how they faced off against countless monsters, as the people worked building a road.
One of the wildest stories she herself had heard when she went out for a drink, was how alone swordsman fought for nine days and ten nights, against a long-dead worrier and upon defeating the carrier, the Black swordsman earned the fallen warriors armor as a reward.
The stories continued, but in reality, no one of real importance cared, that is until something happened.
Once in a while merchants would travel to the lands below and sell whatever exes materials they had, they would overcharge the lower level people for things that they normally would never be able to get where they lived and yet few if any of them were able to sell anything at all.
This was a problem, normally the crown would take a portion of these sales and if there was no one buying than the crown couldn't gain any extra coins.
Messenger were sent to the kings and queens bellow, all of which said the same thing. Go talk to the Adventurers.
Do spies were sent out to see what was going on, what they found was impossible, towns and cities had protective walls built around them, normally this wouldn't have been anything unusual, had it not been that the walls were built with stone several times stronger than that, that was found in their floors.
Reports of people going into towers or dungeons and bringing out corpses of monsters by the dozens started to arrive and drawings of roads that connected small villages together were built in such a way, that if a monster of bandits did attack, people could flee with ought ever being seen by the attackers.
Roads that only knights and merchants travel in, connected the larger cities and towns with the smallest of villages.
Yet what was most disturbing of it all was what she had just heard.
Several assassins had been sent out, to deal with the danger of who or what these adventurers were, only to be stopped by the adventurers themselves. The fact that the adventurers or players as they liked to call themselves were reluctant to kill a person, made the assassins confident in their victory.
That is until one of the sasins aimed for a gathering of children, it was in the blink of a n eye, when a man dressed on black clothing wielding two swords, rendered several assassins unconscious, while several more had their heads cut off, by a woman with a tattoo of a coffin that was smiling.
The man died immediately after giving his report, a large cut across his back, it was only the man's sheer force of will, that allowed him to live long enough to give his report.
"It's cold" Mordred said to herself as she thought about what she had just heard.
She stood there looking at the man's corps before releasing a blast of pure energy, leaving no trace that a corpse had ever been there. The man's family would only know he had abandoned them, such was the fate of assassins and spies.
(Elsewhere)
He walked down the lines several floors filled to the brim with books, scrolls and parchments, poems, stories, legends and detailed explanation of how to do things were present where ever he looked.
His old hands shook as he opens a scroll and he was met with the designs of a device for distributing water to an entire city.
He couldn't hold back his smile, even his elderly face seemed to lose fifty years, at the sight before him. This, this place, was open for everyone, a fountain of knowledge freely given to the people, each thing held here was invaluable.
To think that after all these years he would find such a place and yet even he knew that this small library was not even a fraction of what these people knew.
Despite his years, he still held his incredible memory and he would remember every design, every plan he laid his old eyes on. Some were so complex, that he was certain that entire generations could pass and they wouldn't even be able to build these wonders.
Others were so simple, that even now lord Tywins men could construct them and yet they were so complexed that it would take months before just one of them could be completed. Still, he continued to open scrolls and gain new knowledge.
ZFighter18
I'm not a god. I AM WHAT A GOD PRAYS TO.
- Location
- Maryland
Wow, this is not good for the rest of Westeros.
Tywin with knowledge...
Knowledge is power and Tywin knows how to leverage both.
Tywin with knowledge...
Knowledge is power and Tywin knows how to leverage both.
16
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
The sound of metal hitting metal echoed through the room, each impact made the onlookers slightly jump, as the energy brought bought by the strength of each blow, mixed with the thunderest sound of the impact before it.
It was like if the past was colliding with the present and no mortal power could stop it, even the smith whose skin was black, could not hope to stop the events set in motion and so had no choice but to continue on forward regardless of the consequences.
Perhaps the man's predecessors were from Sothoryos, that would explain his skin color, many that came from that place had similar, if not darker skin, still regardless of that, watching the man forge was a sight to be held.
"Go ahead give it a try" said a pink haired girl, to one of the youths that accompanied them and immediately the young man and his attendant both drew their swords.
It was over before it began, the recently acquired sword, cut right then the attendants, like fire going thru dry leaves.
The young man smiled and pointed the sword towards the girl. "Now you will come with me and" the young man said only to find himself lying on the floor, with his sword pointed at him.
"One you're too weak to do any kind of harm to any one of us, two I don't know how you do thing where you're from but trying to hurt someone that sells you something, isn't good for developing a working relationship." The girl said the young man before placing his recently bought sword next to him.
As he watched he took note, the girl's movements were sloppy and skilled, no it more as if whatever skill she had gained had been lost. Something that usually happens during times of peace.
Yet despite the girls easily readable movements and restraint, he was certain that in a real fight, he wouldn't be able to kill her.
He wasn't going to make any wild speeches of grander, he was here only because it was convenient for Lord Tywin, in fact the only reason he now ruled the land he had, was simply because he was expendable.
He didn't matter, his father, mother, brothers and sisters were all expandable and that was why they had been given the task of watching the newcomers and developing the lands.
Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise or perhaps it was a death sentence, regardless he was here and needed to prove himself useful, both to Lord Tywin and to the newcomers.
While true that everything needed to be watched, it didn't necessarily mean that neither side could meet halfway, for example if his smiths, fishermen or farmers could learn some skills from the newcomers, mix them with what his people already knew and create something new, then a working relationship could form.
It would be rare for any sort of trade to happen, between his lands and the rest of Westeros, there was little doubt that the tax collector and the men that performed trade for Lord Tywin himself would come, but one only had to learn when they would set out, how long they remain and how long it took to go back.
Things such as escorts and so on, could either be bribed or kept quiet in more than one way, whether that way was women, gold or goods depended on the person.
So for now he watched and he learned.
(Character change)
Myrcella walked down the streets, like usual she was accompanied by several guards and her handmaidens, not to mention her Septa was next to her. She was currently taking in the sights and looking at all of the peculiarities of this strange city.
Here knights walked on roofs, giant lizards pulled carts and children kept pets that odd to say the least and yet it all seemed natural.
For example the knights that walked of roofs, could easily be compared to the guards that watched over the gates and walls, the lizards could be replaced by horses and the beast, well even back home people kep dangerous animals as pets.
She was just about to turn a corner, when she caught sight of a familiar face, it was the same woman with chestnut hair, the adopted mother of the bastard girl of the man that wore the black armor.
The woman wore a long white coat and a red skirt, that showed far to much skin, how could any woman show her knees so openly, Myrcella could never know.
The woman carried a large bag with her and several vegetables could be seen sticking out of it.
Perhaps the woman was nothing more than the man's bedmate, someone to watch over his daughter, after all it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the man to bed the same woman that was raising his child, even if he would simply caster aside when the girl was old enough, to be married off.
"Lady Asuna, thank you for your purchase" a merchant said to the woman.
"Lady" Myrcella heard her septa repeat.
The woman smiled and bowed to the merchant, as she turned around she noticed Myrcella and her small group, recognizing them she gave them a warm smile and walked up to them.
"Greetings, my name is Myrcella of your Baratheon" Myrcella introduced herself to the woman
The woman bowed." Good evening, my name is Asuna, second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath" she said before pausing "I'm also the Lady of the nearby lands" Asuna introduced herself to Myrcella and her small gathering
A strange pause set in until Mycella heard her septa speak "Forgive my rudeness Lady Asuna, but I must know. Why would a lady buy her own crops and I assume that you cook your own meals"
Asuna smiled and let out a breath " I was afraid that I would have to be really reserved, but I like cooking my families meals and its a breach from managing both the lands and some of the knight's doings" Asuna answered in a relaxed more natural tone.
"Today my daughter will return from her first day of school, so I'm going to prepare something special" Asuna told the septa.
"Excuse me, but why do you carry a water dancers sword?" Myrcella asked Asuna as she pointed at the sword at the woman's hip.
Asuna looked down and in one motion drew the sword, in what felt like a second Myrcella was pushed back and her guard stood between her self, her septa and her servants, all of the knights had their swords drawn and it was almost as if they always had them that way.
"Put your swords down" Myrcella ordered her guard, the men did so reluctantly.
"My lady, look around you" a guard said as he moved his head slightly to the right and Myrcella felt her eyes widen, right behind Lady Asuna, were multiple knights dressed in white, the woman's had never been walking alone.
"Put them down" Asuna ordered her guard, the men reluctantly did so.
"Care to accompany Lady Myrcella" Asuna asked Myrcella, who in turn simply bowed her head at the woman
It was like if the past was colliding with the present and no mortal power could stop it, even the smith whose skin was black, could not hope to stop the events set in motion and so had no choice but to continue on forward regardless of the consequences.
Perhaps the man's predecessors were from Sothoryos, that would explain his skin color, many that came from that place had similar, if not darker skin, still regardless of that, watching the man forge was a sight to be held.
"Go ahead give it a try" said a pink haired girl, to one of the youths that accompanied them and immediately the young man and his attendant both drew their swords.
It was over before it began, the recently acquired sword, cut right then the attendants, like fire going thru dry leaves.
The young man smiled and pointed the sword towards the girl. "Now you will come with me and" the young man said only to find himself lying on the floor, with his sword pointed at him.
"One you're too weak to do any kind of harm to any one of us, two I don't know how you do thing where you're from but trying to hurt someone that sells you something, isn't good for developing a working relationship." The girl said the young man before placing his recently bought sword next to him.
As he watched he took note, the girl's movements were sloppy and skilled, no it more as if whatever skill she had gained had been lost. Something that usually happens during times of peace.
Yet despite the girls easily readable movements and restraint, he was certain that in a real fight, he wouldn't be able to kill her.
He wasn't going to make any wild speeches of grander, he was here only because it was convenient for Lord Tywin, in fact the only reason he now ruled the land he had, was simply because he was expendable.
He didn't matter, his father, mother, brothers and sisters were all expandable and that was why they had been given the task of watching the newcomers and developing the lands.
Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise or perhaps it was a death sentence, regardless he was here and needed to prove himself useful, both to Lord Tywin and to the newcomers.
While true that everything needed to be watched, it didn't necessarily mean that neither side could meet halfway, for example if his smiths, fishermen or farmers could learn some skills from the newcomers, mix them with what his people already knew and create something new, then a working relationship could form.
It would be rare for any sort of trade to happen, between his lands and the rest of Westeros, there was little doubt that the tax collector and the men that performed trade for Lord Tywin himself would come, but one only had to learn when they would set out, how long they remain and how long it took to go back.
Things such as escorts and so on, could either be bribed or kept quiet in more than one way, whether that way was women, gold or goods depended on the person.
So for now he watched and he learned.
(Character change)
Myrcella walked down the streets, like usual she was accompanied by several guards and her handmaidens, not to mention her Septa was next to her. She was currently taking in the sights and looking at all of the peculiarities of this strange city.
Here knights walked on roofs, giant lizards pulled carts and children kept pets that odd to say the least and yet it all seemed natural.
For example the knights that walked of roofs, could easily be compared to the guards that watched over the gates and walls, the lizards could be replaced by horses and the beast, well even back home people kep dangerous animals as pets.
She was just about to turn a corner, when she caught sight of a familiar face, it was the same woman with chestnut hair, the adopted mother of the bastard girl of the man that wore the black armor.
The woman wore a long white coat and a red skirt, that showed far to much skin, how could any woman show her knees so openly, Myrcella could never know.
The woman carried a large bag with her and several vegetables could be seen sticking out of it.
Perhaps the woman was nothing more than the man's bedmate, someone to watch over his daughter, after all it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for the man to bed the same woman that was raising his child, even if he would simply caster aside when the girl was old enough, to be married off.
"Lady Asuna, thank you for your purchase" a merchant said to the woman.
"Lady" Myrcella heard her septa repeat.
The woman smiled and bowed to the merchant, as she turned around she noticed Myrcella and her small group, recognizing them she gave them a warm smile and walked up to them.
"Greetings, my name is Myrcella of your Baratheon" Myrcella introduced herself to the woman
The woman bowed." Good evening, my name is Asuna, second in command of the Knights of the Blood Oath" she said before pausing "I'm also the Lady of the nearby lands" Asuna introduced herself to Myrcella and her small gathering
A strange pause set in until Mycella heard her septa speak "Forgive my rudeness Lady Asuna, but I must know. Why would a lady buy her own crops and I assume that you cook your own meals"
Asuna smiled and let out a breath " I was afraid that I would have to be really reserved, but I like cooking my families meals and its a breach from managing both the lands and some of the knight's doings" Asuna answered in a relaxed more natural tone.
"Today my daughter will return from her first day of school, so I'm going to prepare something special" Asuna told the septa.
"Excuse me, but why do you carry a water dancers sword?" Myrcella asked Asuna as she pointed at the sword at the woman's hip.
Asuna looked down and in one motion drew the sword, in what felt like a second Myrcella was pushed back and her guard stood between her self, her septa and her servants, all of the knights had their swords drawn and it was almost as if they always had them that way.
"Put your swords down" Myrcella ordered her guard, the men did so reluctantly.
"My lady, look around you" a guard said as he moved his head slightly to the right and Myrcella felt her eyes widen, right behind Lady Asuna, were multiple knights dressed in white, the woman's had never been walking alone.
"Put them down" Asuna ordered her guard, the men reluctantly did so.
"Care to accompany Lady Myrcella" Asuna asked Myrcella, who in turn simply bowed her head at the woman
Some of your language in this latest chapter needs some work. And a bit more closure on some sequences. For example, if Asuna was drawing her sword to show it to Myrcella, why didn't she explain that after the showdown ended? What was she trying to achieve at the end, sending her guards with Myrcella, inviting Myrcella to come with her?
Where was the explanation for why she did her own shopping if the fruits of the land should already belong to her as a lady?
She answered why she would cook but not why she would buy things.
Also Asuna's introduction was a bit butchered.
Where was the explanation for why she did her own shopping if the fruits of the land should already belong to her as a lady?
She answered why she would cook but not why she would buy things.
Also Asuna's introduction was a bit butchered.
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
Question one: it wouldn't have made a difference, at this point both parties had shown their hand. It was either simply move on or fight, there is no third option.
As for the rest of the question: perspective Myrcella said she was buying things, Asuna never said that, she only said that she was cooking.
I could tell you more that that would be spoilers.
17
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
An uneasy silence settled in and for a long moment no other sound could be heard except for the armored boots of the knights as they walked next to them, where before there the sounds of merchants, loudly boasting about their items, or animals making some sort of noise, now no one dared to make a single noise.
To her left was her personal guard wearing their red cloaks steel helmets and breastplates, that had boil leather attach to them, they had been specially chosen because they were quick on their feet and equally as quick to fight, if the matter was needed.
For a moment Myrcella wonders if her grandfather had made a mistake, she could clearly remember seeing Lady Asuna's sword being drawn, the blade was polished and well kept, except there were scratches all over it.
She had once spoken to a guard when she was younger, there wasn't any reason for it, she was just curious, as to why the man would cover his sword in oil and move a smooth stone over it.
Now she knew that it was to smooth away the scratches, the sword gets after its use, she had also learned that day, that few knights actually keep their swords sharpened, why that was the case the guard didn't say.
Her grandfather had summoned for the man, so he was forced to excuse himself.
Still, Myrcella wondered if ber guard had send something, that she herself had been entirely ignorant to, after all, why else would they have placed themselves between lady Asuna and herself.
Then there was the matter of Lady Asunas guard, the men were quick and now that Myrcella thought about it, she had clearly seen their white armors as she walked about the city.
A thought briefly entered her mind, one that was highly possible but also highly doubtful. "Had the men been watching her every move?"
Despite her thoughts Myrcella found that the sound of footsteps had stopped and as she turned to look at Lady Asuna, she found the woman was looking in the direction of a small shop.
"Care to have some tea" Asuna asked her, there was a moment of uncertainty in the woman's voice, like if she was wondering something important.
Marcella simply lowered her head and answered. "I would be delighted to"
The guards, the servants and even her Septa stood on each other side, not bothering to take any seats, perhaps not wanting to cause any miss understandings, or perhaps they were preparing themselves to run/fight if the matter was needed.
Soon the owner of the shop arrived carrying tables and chairs with him and several women accompanied him doing the same.
Chairs were set up and offered to all of those present.
Sd Myrcella looked at the white armors of Lady Asunas guard, she noticed that there was a hint of sadness in their eyes, like when someone loses a person they loved or had gone thru something so painful that no physical injury could compare to it.
Each side took their seat and waited for a hot cup of tea to be served to them.
The tension between the two groups could be felt by all those present, so much so that even the shop's owner and his two women were nervous around them.
"I apologize if I startled you, but I was only trying to show you my sword." Lady Asuna said to Myrcella.
For a moment Myrcella looked down and noticed the sword that was now attached to the woman's waist.
"Forgive my guard, they were only doing their job" Myrcella answers Lady Asuna, neither truly apologized for anything, this was nothing more than a formality.
Again the uneasy tension began to see in, only disturbed by her septa loud slurping of the hot drink.
"Ahhh" the woman said as she finished her cup and asked for another, in that one moment, the tension between the two groups was gone and if it was still present Myrcella could not feel it anymore.
Lady Asuna let out a small but genuine smile before becoming quiet and closing her eyes.
"I know what your thinking why would a lady buy or cook her own meal, I already explained the cooking part but, I have yet to explain why, I'm out and bout."
"You see it's good to go out for a walk and see how people are doing, it gets boring being at home all day or simply doing work. Plus, some animalsanimals, caused some problems in the nearby lands and as a result most of the harvest was lost" Lady Asuna said to her, there was no reason for the woman to tell her.
Yet it was for that reason that she was telling her, it was simply common knowledge here, something that one would know about, by hearing merchants or the people themselves speak about it.
"But if the crops were lost, how is it that you have such an abundance of it?" Her septa asked Lady Asuna.
The woman just smiled "I didn't say all the crops were lost, some of us decided to let the villagers keep what harvest is left and we decided to buy our own for a while. The people keep eating and we lose little to no funds" Asuna answered her septa.
"Now it makes sense" Myrcella thought to herself as she took a sip of her tea.
Her grandfather had done something simelar to this, according to him it was pointless to have the little people starve to death, when one could avoid it. They were the ones that did all of the manual tasks after all.
In the surface, what Lady Asuna had done may have seemed kind, in reality it was a calculated move to keep people under control.
The rest of the day the two spoke to one another only in calm voices, until it had become late enough that Lady Asuna had to excuse herself, it was then that Mycella realized something.
No one in their group had put any silver- copper or gold, they had simply sat down and drunk the mans present merchandise and left, without a care for the store owner and his employs.
For a brief moment Mycella turned to look back at the small shop and noticed a man wearing a white armor handing the man a bag filled with coins.
(Elsewhere )
A masked man sat next to a woman, she wouldn't be able to remember who had been with her in this room after a few hours, several spies and even a few assassins had been either captured or eliminated.
Now only a few of them remained, who the others were working for, he didn't know, nor did he care. As things stood, he had to give this new found information to his employer.
(Character change)
Night was approaching quickly and Tywin knew that he didn't have the luxury to sleep tonight, he had ordered the Mountain to keep watch outside his room, now not even the servants would be allowed to enter.
He looked down for a moment and let out a small smile, his granddaughter was sleeping comfortably, right now the two of them were in the most danger than before, any deals could be stopped with their deaths and a simple attack could start an unnecessary war.
The servants and the minor lords were expendable, none of them held power anywhere near what the two commanded, if anything happened to his granddaughter than her father would react, if anything happened to him, everyone under him would attack the island.
It was, for this reason, he himself had come to this strange place, unfortunately, the island had proven itself to strange and to odd to leave his granddaughter behind.
No, he hadn't even left the city but he could already tell, that this place despite how the lords wanted to show its power and peace, was anything but it.
The guards that regularly patrol, the ongoing fights and the fact that the people keep dangerous animals close to them all proved one thing.
This island was anything but safe, the fact that only a few elders if any amongst the nobility remained further strengthens his belief and it was the fact that no one seemed to fear the knights that walked about, only made his suspicions stronger.
But it had been the one new thing that had been agreed upon that made Tywin know that this island was nothing more than a death trap.
It was the fact, that the people here, offered the materials to build a defensive wall between the mainland and the island. Why would both sides need to build a defensive wall, unless they wanted to keep something from getting out.
The fact that it was the strangers that suggested the wall to defend only made his suspicions into facts. The people here were afraid of something, what it was Tywin didn't know, but what he did know was that it would not be getting out.
To her left was her personal guard wearing their red cloaks steel helmets and breastplates, that had boil leather attach to them, they had been specially chosen because they were quick on their feet and equally as quick to fight, if the matter was needed.
For a moment Myrcella wonders if her grandfather had made a mistake, she could clearly remember seeing Lady Asuna's sword being drawn, the blade was polished and well kept, except there were scratches all over it.
She had once spoken to a guard when she was younger, there wasn't any reason for it, she was just curious, as to why the man would cover his sword in oil and move a smooth stone over it.
Now she knew that it was to smooth away the scratches, the sword gets after its use, she had also learned that day, that few knights actually keep their swords sharpened, why that was the case the guard didn't say.
Her grandfather had summoned for the man, so he was forced to excuse himself.
Still, Myrcella wondered if ber guard had send something, that she herself had been entirely ignorant to, after all, why else would they have placed themselves between lady Asuna and herself.
Then there was the matter of Lady Asunas guard, the men were quick and now that Myrcella thought about it, she had clearly seen their white armors as she walked about the city.
A thought briefly entered her mind, one that was highly possible but also highly doubtful. "Had the men been watching her every move?"
Despite her thoughts Myrcella found that the sound of footsteps had stopped and as she turned to look at Lady Asuna, she found the woman was looking in the direction of a small shop.
"Care to have some tea" Asuna asked her, there was a moment of uncertainty in the woman's voice, like if she was wondering something important.
Marcella simply lowered her head and answered. "I would be delighted to"
The guards, the servants and even her Septa stood on each other side, not bothering to take any seats, perhaps not wanting to cause any miss understandings, or perhaps they were preparing themselves to run/fight if the matter was needed.
Soon the owner of the shop arrived carrying tables and chairs with him and several women accompanied him doing the same.
Chairs were set up and offered to all of those present.
Sd Myrcella looked at the white armors of Lady Asunas guard, she noticed that there was a hint of sadness in their eyes, like when someone loses a person they loved or had gone thru something so painful that no physical injury could compare to it.
Each side took their seat and waited for a hot cup of tea to be served to them.
The tension between the two groups could be felt by all those present, so much so that even the shop's owner and his two women were nervous around them.
"I apologize if I startled you, but I was only trying to show you my sword." Lady Asuna said to Myrcella.
For a moment Myrcella looked down and noticed the sword that was now attached to the woman's waist.
"Forgive my guard, they were only doing their job" Myrcella answers Lady Asuna, neither truly apologized for anything, this was nothing more than a formality.
Again the uneasy tension began to see in, only disturbed by her septa loud slurping of the hot drink.
"Ahhh" the woman said as she finished her cup and asked for another, in that one moment, the tension between the two groups was gone and if it was still present Myrcella could not feel it anymore.
Lady Asuna let out a small but genuine smile before becoming quiet and closing her eyes.
"I know what your thinking why would a lady buy or cook her own meal, I already explained the cooking part but, I have yet to explain why, I'm out and bout."
"You see it's good to go out for a walk and see how people are doing, it gets boring being at home all day or simply doing work. Plus, some animalsanimals, caused some problems in the nearby lands and as a result most of the harvest was lost" Lady Asuna said to her, there was no reason for the woman to tell her.
Yet it was for that reason that she was telling her, it was simply common knowledge here, something that one would know about, by hearing merchants or the people themselves speak about it.
"But if the crops were lost, how is it that you have such an abundance of it?" Her septa asked Lady Asuna.
The woman just smiled "I didn't say all the crops were lost, some of us decided to let the villagers keep what harvest is left and we decided to buy our own for a while. The people keep eating and we lose little to no funds" Asuna answered her septa.
"Now it makes sense" Myrcella thought to herself as she took a sip of her tea.
Her grandfather had done something simelar to this, according to him it was pointless to have the little people starve to death, when one could avoid it. They were the ones that did all of the manual tasks after all.
In the surface, what Lady Asuna had done may have seemed kind, in reality it was a calculated move to keep people under control.
The rest of the day the two spoke to one another only in calm voices, until it had become late enough that Lady Asuna had to excuse herself, it was then that Mycella realized something.
No one in their group had put any silver- copper or gold, they had simply sat down and drunk the mans present merchandise and left, without a care for the store owner and his employs.
For a brief moment Mycella turned to look back at the small shop and noticed a man wearing a white armor handing the man a bag filled with coins.
(Elsewhere )
A masked man sat next to a woman, she wouldn't be able to remember who had been with her in this room after a few hours, several spies and even a few assassins had been either captured or eliminated.
Now only a few of them remained, who the others were working for, he didn't know, nor did he care. As things stood, he had to give this new found information to his employer.
(Character change)
Night was approaching quickly and Tywin knew that he didn't have the luxury to sleep tonight, he had ordered the Mountain to keep watch outside his room, now not even the servants would be allowed to enter.
He looked down for a moment and let out a small smile, his granddaughter was sleeping comfortably, right now the two of them were in the most danger than before, any deals could be stopped with their deaths and a simple attack could start an unnecessary war.
The servants and the minor lords were expendable, none of them held power anywhere near what the two commanded, if anything happened to his granddaughter than her father would react, if anything happened to him, everyone under him would attack the island.
It was, for this reason, he himself had come to this strange place, unfortunately, the island had proven itself to strange and to odd to leave his granddaughter behind.
No, he hadn't even left the city but he could already tell, that this place despite how the lords wanted to show its power and peace, was anything but it.
The guards that regularly patrol, the ongoing fights and the fact that the people keep dangerous animals close to them all proved one thing.
This island was anything but safe, the fact that only a few elders if any amongst the nobility remained further strengthens his belief and it was the fact that no one seemed to fear the knights that walked about, only made his suspicions stronger.
But it had been the one new thing that had been agreed upon that made Tywin know that this island was nothing more than a death trap.
It was the fact, that the people here, offered the materials to build a defensive wall between the mainland and the island. Why would both sides need to build a defensive wall, unless they wanted to keep something from getting out.
The fact that it was the strangers that suggested the wall to defend only made his suspicions into facts. The people here were afraid of something, what it was Tywin didn't know, but what he did know was that it would not be getting out.
18
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
(Character change Moredred)
The wind blew as she walked closer to the city, while cool and refreshing, it was far from the cold air that existed in the floors below, the sun had finally set and the two moons had taken the sky.
"Two Moons" she thought to herself, as she briefly wondered where or when exactly she was. The city was quiet and now only the guards were out and about, those few that didn't follow the curfew were either criminals, young lovers that snuck away in a lust filled craze, drunks or merchants that had a quota to fill and needed to work through the night.
Still the only sound that could be heard through the city streets, were the sounds of her armor boots as she walked through the streets. The slight pin noise they made, was almost haunting when there was no other sound to be found anywhere.
She stopped for a moment, there was a slight sound at the distance and she found it was a mixture of strings, cups and people singing. A slight smile crossed her face, she could use a drink, her father wouldn't listen to what she had to say until morning anyway, so she might as well pass the night drinking and enjoying the commeners company.
A few weeks ago, all of the wars had ended, all of the fighting, the monster attacks, the sieges and the assassinations, had just stopped.
Like if a massive hand had been brought down upon everyone, but that didn't mean that peace have been secured. No, soon stories of monsters moving in number never thought imaginable began to spread by the merchants talking and a collective chill spread through the people's spines, when they discovered that their lands were now greater and shooter than they remembered.
The fields had grown, but in places where oceans once boarded the lands, now vast fields existed, if it wasn't a fielded, it was a thick forest.
The change of the lands brought a number of headaches one of them being the fact that the fishermen had nearly lost the only way for them to make ends meat and feed their families. Then came the headache, of having to drag all of those boats into the nearby rivers, that were somehow big enough to fit several Galeon sized ships.
The farmers now had to fend off strange worms that ate their crops, but after a starving man ate one of the strange worms and found its meat to be pleasant, people began to farm the odd creatures.
It was as if the Gods had given their blessings, the only troubling thing was the fact that their home was now placed somewhere on the side of a mountain and the higher they went, the stronger the creatures became, until it was impossible to go any further.
It was so dangerous in fact, that even her father had declared that no one would go any further, for to do so was certain death.
She finally arrived at the tavern and like usual she would drink alone, she often did so, not even be fellow knights dared to drink with her, it wasn't their felt, in her younger years she would lash out at everyone that looked at her the wrong way and because of that she was completely alone now.
She drank her first cup, then her second and finally her third, when man wearing red armor sat in front of her, the man had short spiky hair and wore a bandana, that was tied to his head.
"Hey mind if I sit here, all of the other chairs are taken?" The man asked with a wide smile.
She looked at him and lowered her head giving him her approval, she had never seen this knight before, perhaps he was new. She didn't particularly care for the man existence, but it wasn't until the man drank his fourth cup and put it down loudly that she even bothered to look at him again.
"There caught up to you, so how about it, the loser pays for the drinks" he said as he looked at her in the eyes.
Normally she would have struck the man down for his arrogance, but today she was only here for a drink, so if the fool wanted to pay for it than so be it.
The next day she woke up inside a hotel naked, stinking like alcohol and with a massive bill, next to her, the bill was stuck to a note.
"Thanks for paying for the drinks, don't worry I already paid for the room and left some extra if you want to eat something while your there. Sincerely Klein.
She lowered her head on to the pillow, she had lost her chastity in a drunken act, it was certainly better than what most women would get, considering she couldn't remember anything of what had happened.
But that man, he would die, first she would force him into submission, then she would kill him. He was both the bravest man she had ever met and the stupidest man she had ever met... He was only man with the guts to do something like this.
Moredred just looked at the ceiling, she would worry about it later, now she would worry about it later.
(Character change Tywin Lannister )
They had left early, far earlier than most would have and it was only because his lands were so close by that he was even standing on his side of the border, currently, he was headed home, Myrcella was sleeping comfortably.
He had dismissed the minor lords beneath him, letting them go attend to the dealings of their lands and he had ordered the unneeded servants to stay behind, they had been chosen either because they were expendable or because they were useful.
He had kept the useful ones and abandoned the useless ones.
Still, he didn't have the luxury of relaxing, even if those on the island would invade anytime soon, it didn't mean that the dealings within the seven kingdoms stopped, so like ideal he found himself looking through various pieces of information, that were too urgent to be ignored.
His eyes hardened as he read a letter detailing the events that occurred, his grandson had acted like a drunken fool and attacked the Stark girl, the younger one and in an attempt to defend the girl, her let wolf had attacked him.
In retaliation, his daughter had the pet of the stark girl's sister killed, when the younger of the two had chased her own pet away.
Now there was a rift between the two sisters, not only that but a son of the Starks had been attacked by an assassin, the problems only grew when one took into note that the assailant had a knife his very own dwarf son owned.
Still one had to wonder what exactly had happened on that island, what exactly could have killed nearly all of the elders within the knight houses, only a few of them remained and the fact that elders did exist amongst the lower classes, only meant that the deaths were exclusion to those in power.
Perhaps someone had taken over and put them to the sword and as a result the children of those houses were the only ones left.
But that wouldn't explain, why the people beneath them lived so happily, unless something, not someone was responsible for whatever catastrophe had occurred.
It would certainly explain, why the look that every knight held, was the kind one only sees on those that had already fought on the battlefield and experienced a great loss
The wind blew as she walked closer to the city, while cool and refreshing, it was far from the cold air that existed in the floors below, the sun had finally set and the two moons had taken the sky.
"Two Moons" she thought to herself, as she briefly wondered where or when exactly she was. The city was quiet and now only the guards were out and about, those few that didn't follow the curfew were either criminals, young lovers that snuck away in a lust filled craze, drunks or merchants that had a quota to fill and needed to work through the night.
Still the only sound that could be heard through the city streets, were the sounds of her armor boots as she walked through the streets. The slight pin noise they made, was almost haunting when there was no other sound to be found anywhere.
She stopped for a moment, there was a slight sound at the distance and she found it was a mixture of strings, cups and people singing. A slight smile crossed her face, she could use a drink, her father wouldn't listen to what she had to say until morning anyway, so she might as well pass the night drinking and enjoying the commeners company.
A few weeks ago, all of the wars had ended, all of the fighting, the monster attacks, the sieges and the assassinations, had just stopped.
Like if a massive hand had been brought down upon everyone, but that didn't mean that peace have been secured. No, soon stories of monsters moving in number never thought imaginable began to spread by the merchants talking and a collective chill spread through the people's spines, when they discovered that their lands were now greater and shooter than they remembered.
The fields had grown, but in places where oceans once boarded the lands, now vast fields existed, if it wasn't a fielded, it was a thick forest.
The change of the lands brought a number of headaches one of them being the fact that the fishermen had nearly lost the only way for them to make ends meat and feed their families. Then came the headache, of having to drag all of those boats into the nearby rivers, that were somehow big enough to fit several Galeon sized ships.
The farmers now had to fend off strange worms that ate their crops, but after a starving man ate one of the strange worms and found its meat to be pleasant, people began to farm the odd creatures.
It was as if the Gods had given their blessings, the only troubling thing was the fact that their home was now placed somewhere on the side of a mountain and the higher they went, the stronger the creatures became, until it was impossible to go any further.
It was so dangerous in fact, that even her father had declared that no one would go any further, for to do so was certain death.
She finally arrived at the tavern and like usual she would drink alone, she often did so, not even be fellow knights dared to drink with her, it wasn't their felt, in her younger years she would lash out at everyone that looked at her the wrong way and because of that she was completely alone now.
She drank her first cup, then her second and finally her third, when man wearing red armor sat in front of her, the man had short spiky hair and wore a bandana, that was tied to his head.
"Hey mind if I sit here, all of the other chairs are taken?" The man asked with a wide smile.
She looked at him and lowered her head giving him her approval, she had never seen this knight before, perhaps he was new. She didn't particularly care for the man existence, but it wasn't until the man drank his fourth cup and put it down loudly that she even bothered to look at him again.
"There caught up to you, so how about it, the loser pays for the drinks" he said as he looked at her in the eyes.
Normally she would have struck the man down for his arrogance, but today she was only here for a drink, so if the fool wanted to pay for it than so be it.
The next day she woke up inside a hotel naked, stinking like alcohol and with a massive bill, next to her, the bill was stuck to a note.
"Thanks for paying for the drinks, don't worry I already paid for the room and left some extra if you want to eat something while your there. Sincerely Klein.
She lowered her head on to the pillow, she had lost her chastity in a drunken act, it was certainly better than what most women would get, considering she couldn't remember anything of what had happened.
But that man, he would die, first she would force him into submission, then she would kill him. He was both the bravest man she had ever met and the stupidest man she had ever met... He was only man with the guts to do something like this.
Moredred just looked at the ceiling, she would worry about it later, now she would worry about it later.
(Character change Tywin Lannister )
They had left early, far earlier than most would have and it was only because his lands were so close by that he was even standing on his side of the border, currently, he was headed home, Myrcella was sleeping comfortably.
He had dismissed the minor lords beneath him, letting them go attend to the dealings of their lands and he had ordered the unneeded servants to stay behind, they had been chosen either because they were expendable or because they were useful.
He had kept the useful ones and abandoned the useless ones.
Still, he didn't have the luxury of relaxing, even if those on the island would invade anytime soon, it didn't mean that the dealings within the seven kingdoms stopped, so like ideal he found himself looking through various pieces of information, that were too urgent to be ignored.
His eyes hardened as he read a letter detailing the events that occurred, his grandson had acted like a drunken fool and attacked the Stark girl, the younger one and in an attempt to defend the girl, her let wolf had attacked him.
In retaliation, his daughter had the pet of the stark girl's sister killed, when the younger of the two had chased her own pet away.
Now there was a rift between the two sisters, not only that but a son of the Starks had been attacked by an assassin, the problems only grew when one took into note that the assailant had a knife his very own dwarf son owned.
Still one had to wonder what exactly had happened on that island, what exactly could have killed nearly all of the elders within the knight houses, only a few of them remained and the fact that elders did exist amongst the lower classes, only meant that the deaths were exclusion to those in power.
Perhaps someone had taken over and put them to the sword and as a result the children of those houses were the only ones left.
But that wouldn't explain, why the people beneath them lived so happily, unless something, not someone was responsible for whatever catastrophe had occurred.
It would certainly explain, why the look that every knight held, was the kind one only sees on those that had already fought on the battlefield and experienced a great loss
19
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
(Character change Arthur/ia Pendragon)
Her breast hurt for anyone else such a thought would have been pointless, in reality, such a thought was even more meaningless, considering it was someone in her position, yet for as worthless as this thought was, it was worth its weight in gold.
Her throne room was dark, only the guards were present and even they did their best not to slouch. Before battles, plans and are needed to be fought, all of that was gone now and she found herself with more free time, than what she knew what to do with.
She still wore her combat dress, if nothing more than for show, something that felt comfortable, familiar.
Before she could get by, by wearing a round breastplate and armor that covered her from legs to her head and when she was in her kingdom, she simply spread the summer that, the king let her hold court as he had more important things to do.
It was her council's sheer loyalty, that helped keep up this ruse and her men. She smiled as she remembered everyone beneath her, these men would lay down their lives for her and where other kingdoms would worry about them plotting against them, she had no such worries.
In fact, even the lowest of slaves inside the castle proved their loyalty to her in one way or another.
Perhaps this was the reason why she was up in this ungodly hour, it was too peaceful.
In her life she had learned that when things are calm, its nothing more than the opening act for horrible event to happen.
It was a testament to the amount of peace her kingdom was experiencing, that she was even able to spare a second for such pointless thoughts and yet she could enjoy it.
The sound of admired boots reached her ears, by the way the person walked she knew who it was and that man seemed strangely relaxed and at the same time irritated, how anyone managed to do that was beyond her, but here she was thinking about pointless things, while worrying about pointless things, so who was she to judge.
The door to her throne room opened and her face returned to the stoic expression, she usually showed to all her men.
"Mordred, I assume you had no problems, tell me what have you discovered" she spoke to the young knight in front of her, rhe man wore a white armor, that covered him from head to toe, while this helmet seemed to be adorned with the horns of a greater bull.
Mordred paused for a moment before kneeling and beginning to speak.
"My lord, I have found troubling things in the lands below. While true that few have bought anything from the merchants, its only due, to the fact that someone else had already provided to them the materials, they usually purchase from them."
"The lower kingdoms are intact, there is no harm to them, the only difference is a few newly constructed roads here and there, however, in the lesser lands things have changed greatly."
"The villages and towns at the edges of their borders are now connected by two sorts of roads, one which merchants, soldiers and the people themselves use and another that is routinely patrolled, by a few guards. The later is built in such away, that if one was to attack it those inside, they would open themselves to the defends attacks."
"The cities are now reinforced by both rune covered stones, as well as materials that our spies have yet to identify. Golems now guard both the front and back entrances of each city. While knights that seem to have come from nowhere have taken over those once free lands" Mordred said before I interrupted him.
"Are they any threat to us?" I asked Mordred.
"No." Answered a voice that seemed to come out of every direction.
"From what I could gather, they care nothing for kingdoms, kings, queens, princes and princesses, in fact anything resembling such things is kept at a distance by them." A masked man said as he emerged from the shadows.
She raised an eyebrow wordlessly asking the man a question. "My king, while true they are both fortifying thei lands and increasing both their defenses and warriors, its purely so that they can keep the creatures that dwell in the nearby lands away.
"So they are of no threat" Arthur/Arthuria said, before pausing and dismissing the two. As they both reached the doors, she allowed a faint smile to cross her face.
"Mordred, I can smell both the alcohol and the sent of a woman. If you're going to do such things, make sure the girl remembers you." She said to Mordred, the poor boy left not knowing what to say or do, so he simply chose .
It was amusing to mess with the boy, well that was one problem out of the way, now all she had to worry about, was the reports of strange knights, that searched for dungeons, caves, towers and so on, that seemed hellbent on going up the mountain.
(Character change Asuna)
Yui was eating her fried rice eagerly, seeing her daughters tiny for gobble down her meal only made her smile more, Kazuto said that the threat of the Pegacorns was gone and that the clean-up crew, was only going to look around for any more spies or large group of monsters.
Soon the three of them could go back home, Asuna let out a small humm, soon she would no longer be the second in command of the Knights of the blood oath, she couldn't help manage the people, raise her adopted daughter and lead a group of knights.
No, her combat days were over, in fact Kazuto or Kirito as people still called him by his avatars name, would remain amongst the cleaners, if only to make some extra for when times became tough.
The death game had been hard on the two of them and neither one of them wanted to have to do with something like it again, so they both chose to split their duties. She would manage the home and raising their daughter, while he would both help train the next generation and clean out any mess that might be happening close by.
As hard as things may have been for them, it must have not compared to what you must have gone thru, the little one couldn't even remember her family and any attempts to find any trace of them was lost.
They had to rely on word of mouth, the occasional report of some missing or dead person mysteriously being found nearby a village or town.
It was amazing just how much room in her heart, her daughter had taken up in such short time, but nonetheless she was now her daughter, a tyni girl that had to get ready for school. She had comeback so excited, hoping to tell her what she had learned and who she had met.
When Yui first saw Kirito/Kazuto, her first instinct was I run up to him and have the man carry her around the mansion.
Asuna hoped these peaceful days never ended.
Her breast hurt for anyone else such a thought would have been pointless, in reality, such a thought was even more meaningless, considering it was someone in her position, yet for as worthless as this thought was, it was worth its weight in gold.
Her throne room was dark, only the guards were present and even they did their best not to slouch. Before battles, plans and are needed to be fought, all of that was gone now and she found herself with more free time, than what she knew what to do with.
She still wore her combat dress, if nothing more than for show, something that felt comfortable, familiar.
Before she could get by, by wearing a round breastplate and armor that covered her from legs to her head and when she was in her kingdom, she simply spread the summer that, the king let her hold court as he had more important things to do.
It was her council's sheer loyalty, that helped keep up this ruse and her men. She smiled as she remembered everyone beneath her, these men would lay down their lives for her and where other kingdoms would worry about them plotting against them, she had no such worries.
In fact, even the lowest of slaves inside the castle proved their loyalty to her in one way or another.
Perhaps this was the reason why she was up in this ungodly hour, it was too peaceful.
In her life she had learned that when things are calm, its nothing more than the opening act for horrible event to happen.
It was a testament to the amount of peace her kingdom was experiencing, that she was even able to spare a second for such pointless thoughts and yet she could enjoy it.
The sound of admired boots reached her ears, by the way the person walked she knew who it was and that man seemed strangely relaxed and at the same time irritated, how anyone managed to do that was beyond her, but here she was thinking about pointless things, while worrying about pointless things, so who was she to judge.
The door to her throne room opened and her face returned to the stoic expression, she usually showed to all her men.
"Mordred, I assume you had no problems, tell me what have you discovered" she spoke to the young knight in front of her, rhe man wore a white armor, that covered him from head to toe, while this helmet seemed to be adorned with the horns of a greater bull.
Mordred paused for a moment before kneeling and beginning to speak.
"My lord, I have found troubling things in the lands below. While true that few have bought anything from the merchants, its only due, to the fact that someone else had already provided to them the materials, they usually purchase from them."
"The lower kingdoms are intact, there is no harm to them, the only difference is a few newly constructed roads here and there, however, in the lesser lands things have changed greatly."
"The villages and towns at the edges of their borders are now connected by two sorts of roads, one which merchants, soldiers and the people themselves use and another that is routinely patrolled, by a few guards. The later is built in such away, that if one was to attack it those inside, they would open themselves to the defends attacks."
"The cities are now reinforced by both rune covered stones, as well as materials that our spies have yet to identify. Golems now guard both the front and back entrances of each city. While knights that seem to have come from nowhere have taken over those once free lands" Mordred said before I interrupted him.
"Are they any threat to us?" I asked Mordred.
"No." Answered a voice that seemed to come out of every direction.
"From what I could gather, they care nothing for kingdoms, kings, queens, princes and princesses, in fact anything resembling such things is kept at a distance by them." A masked man said as he emerged from the shadows.
She raised an eyebrow wordlessly asking the man a question. "My king, while true they are both fortifying thei lands and increasing both their defenses and warriors, its purely so that they can keep the creatures that dwell in the nearby lands away.
"So they are of no threat" Arthur/Arthuria said, before pausing and dismissing the two. As they both reached the doors, she allowed a faint smile to cross her face.
"Mordred, I can smell both the alcohol and the sent of a woman. If you're going to do such things, make sure the girl remembers you." She said to Mordred, the poor boy left not knowing what to say or do, so he simply chose .
It was amusing to mess with the boy, well that was one problem out of the way, now all she had to worry about, was the reports of strange knights, that searched for dungeons, caves, towers and so on, that seemed hellbent on going up the mountain.
(Character change Asuna)
Yui was eating her fried rice eagerly, seeing her daughters tiny for gobble down her meal only made her smile more, Kazuto said that the threat of the Pegacorns was gone and that the clean-up crew, was only going to look around for any more spies or large group of monsters.
Soon the three of them could go back home, Asuna let out a small humm, soon she would no longer be the second in command of the Knights of the blood oath, she couldn't help manage the people, raise her adopted daughter and lead a group of knights.
No, her combat days were over, in fact Kazuto or Kirito as people still called him by his avatars name, would remain amongst the cleaners, if only to make some extra for when times became tough.
The death game had been hard on the two of them and neither one of them wanted to have to do with something like it again, so they both chose to split their duties. She would manage the home and raising their daughter, while he would both help train the next generation and clean out any mess that might be happening close by.
As hard as things may have been for them, it must have not compared to what you must have gone thru, the little one couldn't even remember her family and any attempts to find any trace of them was lost.
They had to rely on word of mouth, the occasional report of some missing or dead person mysteriously being found nearby a village or town.
It was amazing just how much room in her heart, her daughter had taken up in such short time, but nonetheless she was now her daughter, a tyni girl that had to get ready for school. She had comeback so excited, hoping to tell her what she had learned and who she had met.
When Yui first saw Kirito/Kazuto, her first instinct was I run up to him and have the man carry her around the mansion.
Asuna hoped these peaceful days never ended.
20
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
(Elsewhere )
The sounds of the constant beeping was nearly hypnotic and incredibly annoying, Heathcliff looked down at the roles upon roles of corpses in front of him, before him were the many dead of Sword Art Online.
Granted that none of them were dead now, but nonetheless, they were entirely out of his reach, the castle was protecting them, he had lost his administrative capacities, making him no different than everyone else around him.
Even if he knew the secrets of the castle, they were meaningless now, for him to use just one would trigger the castles self-preservation system and force him into hiding.
So he was forced to watch every possible test subject that woke up, to be teleported away, near one guild/team or another, with every person that banish meant that both the people and the castle grew stronger, both in their defenses and in their skills.
This wasn't a game anymore, so those that were sick of all of the fighting, simply chose to move on with their lives
As infuriating as any of this might be, the fact that so many unknowns existed, opened world for new previously undiscovered possibilities.
The Lord that had just left, proved something extremely valuable, there was a world beyond his castle and what little lands could be seen, not only that the fact that multiple other kingdoms were scattered about, made it possible for him to see history unfold right before his eyes.
Time moved slowly as he wondered what else had changed, while true there were kingdoms inside the castle itself, he found that both their histories and their people, were nothing new to him, he knew every single one of them.
"Perhaps it's time to explore the nearby seas." Heathcliff said to himself, as he remembered the nearby islands, that were said to be filled with pirates.
He would send out a small group to make contact with them and if they were attacked and both players and pirates died, it would certainly be the pirate's fault, after all those extremely few people only went there to say hello.
If the pirates took offense to them, well that would be their problem.
It would be interesting to see how both the players and the people on the mainland would react to this, on one side the players could lay siege, but the likelihood of that happening would be low. The people on the mainland wouldn't care, unless it affected theme, in some way.
No the deciding factor in all of this, would be whatever the pirates chose to do, if it was simply staying on their boats and islands, then nothing would happen, but should they attack, it would force the players to retaliate and it would only be then, when the mainlanders would take notice.
Heathcliff watched another person move, before banishing, another player has just woken up, another person slips thru his fingers.
This was frustrating to see.
(Character change Kirito)
The sound of his sword making contact with the orcs battle ax, echoed through the battlefield, around him were the rest of the cleanup team each fighting back to back, holding off both the orcs and the goblins alike.
They had come to the bordering town, when the stories of missing women and children reached their ears, what they found, however, was the stuff of nightmares.
The captured women were used as breeding material, whether they were human or animal didn't matter, the result was the results were the same, the orc or goblin children are their way out of their mother's wombs.
The sight may have been disturbing and they would have filled the caves with flammable gases, before lighting a spark and watching as the twisted abominations burned to death. There was no point on going in to rescue anyone, if there were any survivors, just getting to them was nearly impossible.
The sheer amount of enemies before them was ridiculous, so they were forced to call for help, a true extermination force was needed for this. Unfortunately, the enemy had seen them and wasted no time in attacking the cleaners.
So here they were fighting for their lives, for them, nothing had changed, they were still in that death game, only that this time there was no promise of freedom.
They had been fighting for hours, be knew that because the sun was now high into the sky and when they had started this mission, the sun hadn't even fully come out. Suddenly a spear flew right past Kiritos head, killing an Orc that was inches from him.
"Roooo!" Screamed a beast and with the sound of a stamped thousands of minotaurs, riding on the backs of centaurs charged into the battlefield.
"Roar!" The orcs responded as a large group of orcs separated themselves and met the charging monsters.
Suddenly the sound of hundreds of guns firing resonated with the sounds of battle and beastly roars.
Kori to instantly knew that reinforcements had finally arrived
Kori to dodged an orcs club being swung towards him, only for the club to be stopped by a minotaurs spear, a goblin threw itself onto the defending minotaur, only for a gunshot to knock it off the air.
A senator brought down his warhammer, only for Kirito to block it with his twin swords. The fighting continued until once again the sun began to set and when night finally came the various cave and tunnels were set ablaze.
The screams of monsters, animals and people choking to death before being burned alive, took over the night, only the players remained.
Kirito just whipped the blood-drenched mud off his face and hoped to be able to wash before returning to Asuna's side, his only wish right now was to see Yui's smiling face, as he carried her in his arms.
The sounds of the constant beeping was nearly hypnotic and incredibly annoying, Heathcliff looked down at the roles upon roles of corpses in front of him, before him were the many dead of Sword Art Online.
Granted that none of them were dead now, but nonetheless, they were entirely out of his reach, the castle was protecting them, he had lost his administrative capacities, making him no different than everyone else around him.
Even if he knew the secrets of the castle, they were meaningless now, for him to use just one would trigger the castles self-preservation system and force him into hiding.
So he was forced to watch every possible test subject that woke up, to be teleported away, near one guild/team or another, with every person that banish meant that both the people and the castle grew stronger, both in their defenses and in their skills.
This wasn't a game anymore, so those that were sick of all of the fighting, simply chose to move on with their lives
As infuriating as any of this might be, the fact that so many unknowns existed, opened world for new previously undiscovered possibilities.
The Lord that had just left, proved something extremely valuable, there was a world beyond his castle and what little lands could be seen, not only that the fact that multiple other kingdoms were scattered about, made it possible for him to see history unfold right before his eyes.
Time moved slowly as he wondered what else had changed, while true there were kingdoms inside the castle itself, he found that both their histories and their people, were nothing new to him, he knew every single one of them.
"Perhaps it's time to explore the nearby seas." Heathcliff said to himself, as he remembered the nearby islands, that were said to be filled with pirates.
He would send out a small group to make contact with them and if they were attacked and both players and pirates died, it would certainly be the pirate's fault, after all those extremely few people only went there to say hello.
If the pirates took offense to them, well that would be their problem.
It would be interesting to see how both the players and the people on the mainland would react to this, on one side the players could lay siege, but the likelihood of that happening would be low. The people on the mainland wouldn't care, unless it affected theme, in some way.
No the deciding factor in all of this, would be whatever the pirates chose to do, if it was simply staying on their boats and islands, then nothing would happen, but should they attack, it would force the players to retaliate and it would only be then, when the mainlanders would take notice.
Heathcliff watched another person move, before banishing, another player has just woken up, another person slips thru his fingers.
This was frustrating to see.
(Character change Kirito)
The sound of his sword making contact with the orcs battle ax, echoed through the battlefield, around him were the rest of the cleanup team each fighting back to back, holding off both the orcs and the goblins alike.
They had come to the bordering town, when the stories of missing women and children reached their ears, what they found, however, was the stuff of nightmares.
The captured women were used as breeding material, whether they were human or animal didn't matter, the result was the results were the same, the orc or goblin children are their way out of their mother's wombs.
The sight may have been disturbing and they would have filled the caves with flammable gases, before lighting a spark and watching as the twisted abominations burned to death. There was no point on going in to rescue anyone, if there were any survivors, just getting to them was nearly impossible.
The sheer amount of enemies before them was ridiculous, so they were forced to call for help, a true extermination force was needed for this. Unfortunately, the enemy had seen them and wasted no time in attacking the cleaners.
So here they were fighting for their lives, for them, nothing had changed, they were still in that death game, only that this time there was no promise of freedom.
They had been fighting for hours, be knew that because the sun was now high into the sky and when they had started this mission, the sun hadn't even fully come out. Suddenly a spear flew right past Kiritos head, killing an Orc that was inches from him.
"Roooo!" Screamed a beast and with the sound of a stamped thousands of minotaurs, riding on the backs of centaurs charged into the battlefield.
"Roar!" The orcs responded as a large group of orcs separated themselves and met the charging monsters.
Suddenly the sound of hundreds of guns firing resonated with the sounds of battle and beastly roars.
Kori to instantly knew that reinforcements had finally arrived
Kori to dodged an orcs club being swung towards him, only for the club to be stopped by a minotaurs spear, a goblin threw itself onto the defending minotaur, only for a gunshot to knock it off the air.
A senator brought down his warhammer, only for Kirito to block it with his twin swords. The fighting continued until once again the sun began to set and when night finally came the various cave and tunnels were set ablaze.
The screams of monsters, animals and people choking to death before being burned alive, took over the night, only the players remained.
Kirito just whipped the blood-drenched mud off his face and hoped to be able to wash before returning to Asuna's side, his only wish right now was to see Yui's smiling face, as he carried her in his arms.
21
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
Kirito looked around the battlefield and he noticed how several of the players were already gathering the enemies dropped weapons, it was dangerous to leave them behind, the smell of blood alone attracted creatures that were better kept unarmed.
Things such as gold, silver, potions and useful materials whatever those would end up being, would be gathered by the people of Aincrad and carried back to the village/towns, depending on the situation, the players would be paid in either materials, upgraded weapons, armor, or by simple gold.
The truth of the matter was that most players didn't want anything right now, just how many innocent people had they just killed, even if all of the bodies present were that of monsters and the only things that remained of the human women and children, were bones and mutilated corpses, it still didn't sit right with any of the scouts.
There are three kinds of patrols scouts, made of people that are still going up the castle, cleaners, which he was apart of, players that deal with the problems that show up before they reach the borders of whatever town or village, they might be near of.
The last was made of soldiers from the people of Aincrad and the players that chose to stop fighting but admitted that even if they wanted to, the world was so dangerous that they never could truly put away their swords.
Granted this change wasn't anything major and no one really noticed it, considering how things were originally done, but nonetheless, they were changes even if they were insignificant ones.
One by one the players began to enter the still smoking tunnels, when the fires were ignited, the force of the fire was so strong, that in several areas it just tore thru the ground itself and shot straight into the sky.
The teams would split up, half would go into the tunnels and the other half would inspect the surface, they could use teleporting crystals to get to whoever needed help, so the feeling of desperation wasn't there anymore.
Still, they had to do this, the chances of monsters still being alive inside these tunnels was far to greater and even if none were alive inside these immediate tunnels, the scouts still had to go back and inspect every cave in the immediate area.
So for hours, they walked inside the tunnels, passing by orcs, goblins, both young and old, either dead or dying, thankfully no human remains were found, at least no none mutilated remains were found.
There a feeling a person gets, when they realize just how much another person must-have suffered, its like if an invisible blade cut right thru a person soul and the pain is excruciating, despite being an emotional, as well as physiological reaction, the effects were still felt physically.
There was no way for any of the women to be identified and even if there was, would any of them have any family members left and who amongst the scouts would be willing to tell, a mother, a father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle about the fate of the person they had been looking for.
They all teleported to the surface and found that the other players had prepared buckets filled with water for them to wash off all of the blood and guts.
It would be dawn soon and when the people came to pick up what was left, it would be only when they finished that any of the scouts would get any real rest, before continuing the inspection of the nearby caves.
Granted the scouts were a mismatched bunch of players that varied levels, but things like this took a time on a person, so they all needed to rest, regardless of how strong they may have been.
A single scout was sent back and she was meant to make a very specific order.
So as wet rags were dropped into the buckets and immediately after the sound of water falling before the players whipped the blood off their faces, armors and areas Kirito didn't even know how they eve manage to get there, none of them noticed a masked figure watching them from a distance.
The masked figure continued to watch even as the sun rose and the people began to pick up the remains of the dead, he watched as a single knight who wore a green armor returned accompanied by several wagons each pulling right coffins behind them.
When the wagons stopped, a group of monks walked into the tunnels accompanied by several guards, soon one by one the coffins were taken into the tunnels, before being pulled back out.
The masked figure watched as the coffins ran out and the adventurers cut down several trees just to make a few more coffins, the dead were so many that the adventurers and the people themselves were forced to drag some of the coffins themselves.
The masked figure continued to watch until the sound of chains moving behind him reached his ears.
"Tell me, man of the kingdom who's name I do not know. Why do you spy on my brothers and sisters?" A knight wearing gray armor spoke to him.
The masked man wasn't sure if the man could see him, after all the knight wasn't even looking in his direction.
"Not in the mood to speak, I'm afraid that you will find that dealing with the Army, is considerably different than dealing with regular players." The knight said, before he swung his sword with enough force, that it cut down the nearby trees around him, exposing the masked man's location.
The masked man moved quickly, he hadn't lived this long without having to kill an opponent in direct combat, however, as he threw himself at the knight whose armor resembled dented rough gray metal, a second swordsman interrupted his attack, forcing him back.
The sound of a miniature explosion was the only warning he received and it was because of his skills of an assassin alone, that he managed to don't the attack add at his legs. The masked man knew when he was beaten, so he reached into his bound with the shadows and used them to teleport away.
The players/adventurers of the Army guild simply stood still waiting for an attack that never came and it was only after a minute had passed that they knew, that it was safe to move about freely again.
"He didn't look like anyone from any of the floors we know." Said one of the players.
"I know, that only means one of three things, either its someone from the mainland, its someone from the floors above, or there's a specialized group somewhere we still haven't found." Answered Thinker the leader of the Army guild.
"Should we inform the rest of the guilds?" asked another player
Thinker simply bowed his head giving his approval
Things such as gold, silver, potions and useful materials whatever those would end up being, would be gathered by the people of Aincrad and carried back to the village/towns, depending on the situation, the players would be paid in either materials, upgraded weapons, armor, or by simple gold.
The truth of the matter was that most players didn't want anything right now, just how many innocent people had they just killed, even if all of the bodies present were that of monsters and the only things that remained of the human women and children, were bones and mutilated corpses, it still didn't sit right with any of the scouts.
There are three kinds of patrols scouts, made of people that are still going up the castle, cleaners, which he was apart of, players that deal with the problems that show up before they reach the borders of whatever town or village, they might be near of.
The last was made of soldiers from the people of Aincrad and the players that chose to stop fighting but admitted that even if they wanted to, the world was so dangerous that they never could truly put away their swords.
Granted this change wasn't anything major and no one really noticed it, considering how things were originally done, but nonetheless, they were changes even if they were insignificant ones.
One by one the players began to enter the still smoking tunnels, when the fires were ignited, the force of the fire was so strong, that in several areas it just tore thru the ground itself and shot straight into the sky.
The teams would split up, half would go into the tunnels and the other half would inspect the surface, they could use teleporting crystals to get to whoever needed help, so the feeling of desperation wasn't there anymore.
Still, they had to do this, the chances of monsters still being alive inside these tunnels was far to greater and even if none were alive inside these immediate tunnels, the scouts still had to go back and inspect every cave in the immediate area.
So for hours, they walked inside the tunnels, passing by orcs, goblins, both young and old, either dead or dying, thankfully no human remains were found, at least no none mutilated remains were found.
There a feeling a person gets, when they realize just how much another person must-have suffered, its like if an invisible blade cut right thru a person soul and the pain is excruciating, despite being an emotional, as well as physiological reaction, the effects were still felt physically.
There was no way for any of the women to be identified and even if there was, would any of them have any family members left and who amongst the scouts would be willing to tell, a mother, a father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle about the fate of the person they had been looking for.
They all teleported to the surface and found that the other players had prepared buckets filled with water for them to wash off all of the blood and guts.
It would be dawn soon and when the people came to pick up what was left, it would be only when they finished that any of the scouts would get any real rest, before continuing the inspection of the nearby caves.
Granted the scouts were a mismatched bunch of players that varied levels, but things like this took a time on a person, so they all needed to rest, regardless of how strong they may have been.
A single scout was sent back and she was meant to make a very specific order.
So as wet rags were dropped into the buckets and immediately after the sound of water falling before the players whipped the blood off their faces, armors and areas Kirito didn't even know how they eve manage to get there, none of them noticed a masked figure watching them from a distance.
The masked figure continued to watch even as the sun rose and the people began to pick up the remains of the dead, he watched as a single knight who wore a green armor returned accompanied by several wagons each pulling right coffins behind them.
When the wagons stopped, a group of monks walked into the tunnels accompanied by several guards, soon one by one the coffins were taken into the tunnels, before being pulled back out.
The masked figure watched as the coffins ran out and the adventurers cut down several trees just to make a few more coffins, the dead were so many that the adventurers and the people themselves were forced to drag some of the coffins themselves.
The masked figure continued to watch until the sound of chains moving behind him reached his ears.
"Tell me, man of the kingdom who's name I do not know. Why do you spy on my brothers and sisters?" A knight wearing gray armor spoke to him.
The masked man wasn't sure if the man could see him, after all the knight wasn't even looking in his direction.
"Not in the mood to speak, I'm afraid that you will find that dealing with the Army, is considerably different than dealing with regular players." The knight said, before he swung his sword with enough force, that it cut down the nearby trees around him, exposing the masked man's location.
The masked man moved quickly, he hadn't lived this long without having to kill an opponent in direct combat, however, as he threw himself at the knight whose armor resembled dented rough gray metal, a second swordsman interrupted his attack, forcing him back.
The sound of a miniature explosion was the only warning he received and it was because of his skills of an assassin alone, that he managed to don't the attack add at his legs. The masked man knew when he was beaten, so he reached into his bound with the shadows and used them to teleport away.
The players/adventurers of the Army guild simply stood still waiting for an attack that never came and it was only after a minute had passed that they knew, that it was safe to move about freely again.
"He didn't look like anyone from any of the floors we know." Said one of the players.
"I know, that only means one of three things, either its someone from the mainland, its someone from the floors above, or there's a specialized group somewhere we still haven't found." Answered Thinker the leader of the Army guild.
"Should we inform the rest of the guilds?" asked another player
Thinker simply bowed his head giving his approval
22
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
The sound church bell could be heard all over town, the bells were loud enough to be heard by the surrounding villages, the sound of each bell, seemed to somehow express the feelings of pain and loss, every time the sound was heard, it was like a person's heart was breaking.
Kirito sat near the entrance to the town, behind his the pair of guards that watched over the main gate kept looking at him with eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.
Right now he, as well as the rest of the cleaners, weren't within the areas controls by the player, no, like it or not they were inside the borders of one of the kingdoms inside Aincrad, they chose to rest there for two reasons, one the nearest lands controlled by players, was the one the Army held under their power.
The other reason because of the close proximity between the two powers neither one wanted to start any trouble with the other, so players were free to come and go as they please, as long as they didn't cause any problems.
A large funeral was being held for all of the dead, unfortunately, there were a lot more missing people than the ones that were found.
Kirito reached out and touched the small window allowing his help screen to come out, he began to replay his daughters first day of school, anyone else that saw him would think that he was just moving his hand around like an idiot and smiling like an insane man.
Being a cleaner was stressful work, so a lot of them would take vacations every now and then when things became too much for them, some people would go spend some time in one of local whorehouses, others would spend time with their guilds, some people even simply visited quiet areas where they could be alone.
That was just how stressful the job was and if no one did it, then all of the things they fought, would one day reach their homes, that thought alone made a lot of players uncomfortable.
For obvious reasons most of the players were men and a lot of them had taken liking to one or two village girls and from what Kirito heard, the feelings were mutual.
"Care for a sugar?" Asked a knight one whose name Kirito didn't know, from the information on the man's screen, his name was Lancelot, everything else however was hidden.
"I heard about your battle with the creatures, forgive me for being so rude, but if you would allow me to know, just how exactly did you players manage to defeat them all. The orcs and goblins alone would have been a prolonged fight one that would have lasted for weeks." Asked Lancelot
"We didn't fight fairly and we used underhanded tactics." Kirito answered the man, however, he didn't bother to elaborate more than what was needed.
Lancelot simply smiled. "I see. So what were you remembering? From the way you moved and the expression on your face, either you were looking at something or you were remembering the past, a loved one perhaps." Lancelot continued.
Kirito looked at the man for a long moment before closing his eyes and smiling, he moved his hand in the air and allowed his help screen to be displayed before the knight.
"Illusionary magic" Lancelot immediately said.
"My daughter, it was her first day of school." Kirito said as the image of several teens marching passed and smaller children walked behind them, trying to imitate they way they marched. However soon the video showed a bunch of little children who's feet moved as fast as they could, just to be able to keep up with their elders.
Lancelot smiled faintly, understanding that this, this was something precious to Kirito.
The sound of a spark igniting a cigar made Kirito turn to look at the ma besides him, as the man took a puff of his cigar he offered another to Kirito, however, Kirito to just rejected the mans offer.
"...Are there more out there?" Lancelot asked.
"I don't know" Kirito immediately answers the man and an uneasy silence settled in between the two men, even as the sounds of funeral bells echoed in the background.
(Character change Asuna)
Asuna smiled as she spoke with the people around the city, most of the guards were gone, now only a few stayed behind to help keep a form of protection around her.
She was busy buying things like lumber, tools and things that villages usually needed just to get buy. She enjoyed her time speaking to the merchants and listening to them as they tried sweet talk her into buying overly expensive items or things she really didn't need.
Despite this she was getting the hand of managing the expenses of her land, granted she hadn't ruled over anything or even stayed on that land for an extended period of time, still there was a familiarity to it all.
Perhaps all of the paperwork or work that seemed to pile up regardless of how much she completed, reminded her of her life before entering Sword Art Online, back when the only thing she cared about, was getting good grades.
Things such as friends and extra activities were meaningless to her back then, it spoke a lot about her situation in life, that the first friend she ever made was inside the game.
Kirito sat near the entrance to the town, behind his the pair of guards that watched over the main gate kept looking at him with eyes filled with fear and uncertainty.
Right now he, as well as the rest of the cleaners, weren't within the areas controls by the player, no, like it or not they were inside the borders of one of the kingdoms inside Aincrad, they chose to rest there for two reasons, one the nearest lands controlled by players, was the one the Army held under their power.
The other reason because of the close proximity between the two powers neither one wanted to start any trouble with the other, so players were free to come and go as they please, as long as they didn't cause any problems.
A large funeral was being held for all of the dead, unfortunately, there were a lot more missing people than the ones that were found.
Kirito reached out and touched the small window allowing his help screen to come out, he began to replay his daughters first day of school, anyone else that saw him would think that he was just moving his hand around like an idiot and smiling like an insane man.
Being a cleaner was stressful work, so a lot of them would take vacations every now and then when things became too much for them, some people would go spend some time in one of local whorehouses, others would spend time with their guilds, some people even simply visited quiet areas where they could be alone.
That was just how stressful the job was and if no one did it, then all of the things they fought, would one day reach their homes, that thought alone made a lot of players uncomfortable.
For obvious reasons most of the players were men and a lot of them had taken liking to one or two village girls and from what Kirito heard, the feelings were mutual.
"Care for a sugar?" Asked a knight one whose name Kirito didn't know, from the information on the man's screen, his name was Lancelot, everything else however was hidden.
"I heard about your battle with the creatures, forgive me for being so rude, but if you would allow me to know, just how exactly did you players manage to defeat them all. The orcs and goblins alone would have been a prolonged fight one that would have lasted for weeks." Asked Lancelot
"We didn't fight fairly and we used underhanded tactics." Kirito answered the man, however, he didn't bother to elaborate more than what was needed.
Lancelot simply smiled. "I see. So what were you remembering? From the way you moved and the expression on your face, either you were looking at something or you were remembering the past, a loved one perhaps." Lancelot continued.
Kirito looked at the man for a long moment before closing his eyes and smiling, he moved his hand in the air and allowed his help screen to be displayed before the knight.
"Illusionary magic" Lancelot immediately said.
"My daughter, it was her first day of school." Kirito said as the image of several teens marching passed and smaller children walked behind them, trying to imitate they way they marched. However soon the video showed a bunch of little children who's feet moved as fast as they could, just to be able to keep up with their elders.
Lancelot smiled faintly, understanding that this, this was something precious to Kirito.
The sound of a spark igniting a cigar made Kirito turn to look at the ma besides him, as the man took a puff of his cigar he offered another to Kirito, however, Kirito to just rejected the mans offer.
"...Are there more out there?" Lancelot asked.
"I don't know" Kirito immediately answers the man and an uneasy silence settled in between the two men, even as the sounds of funeral bells echoed in the background.
(Character change Asuna)
Asuna smiled as she spoke with the people around the city, most of the guards were gone, now only a few stayed behind to help keep a form of protection around her.
She was busy buying things like lumber, tools and things that villages usually needed just to get buy. She enjoyed her time speaking to the merchants and listening to them as they tried sweet talk her into buying overly expensive items or things she really didn't need.
Despite this she was getting the hand of managing the expenses of her land, granted she hadn't ruled over anything or even stayed on that land for an extended period of time, still there was a familiarity to it all.
Perhaps all of the paperwork or work that seemed to pile up regardless of how much she completed, reminded her of her life before entering Sword Art Online, back when the only thing she cared about, was getting good grades.
Things such as friends and extra activities were meaningless to her back then, it spoke a lot about her situation in life, that the first friend she ever made was inside the game.
23
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
Her mother had been someone that came from a humble background, but had grown to dislike the life she had, tot he point that whenever her mother spoke about the past, she spoke about it in disgust.
Her father had been the C.E.O of a company, in fact it was the one companys that had investind increasing Sword Art Online to begin with, so a lot had away been demanded from her.
It had been a strict childhood, not a bad one, just one she didn't wish for her own children. So she would learn from the actions of her parents, she would be firm, but soft, willing to lay down the law when her children did something wrong, but she would certainly not remind them of their failures constantly.
It was no secret to anyone that she was leaving the Knights of the Blood Oath, but as second in command, she knew many of the guilds secrets, so she couldn't be allowed to simply leave, at least not until things changed so much, that her information, was so outdated that it was completely useless.
So she was left with a couple of guards.
Even as she walked down the street, Asuna couldn't help herself but remember, her first female friend, she had been a petty girl, altho Asuna coulnt remember the girls name, she did remember, that the girl use to be a member of a computer club.
It was getting late and preparations for the villagers to return needed to be made and completed by the end of the week, it was almost time to prepare Yui's lounch, there was something special, in seeing her daughter eat her food so happily.
Asuna wished these days would never end.
(Character change )
Mordred found herself walking around, the day had been frustrating to say the least, she had drunken too much the day before and as a result, she was forced to deal with a hangover all day.
That much she could endure, after all she had gone out for drinks before, but it was the memory of that man that had bedded her that kept her mind spinning.
Who was he? What house has that kind of armor? How can I break every bone in his body? Should I kill him quickly or should his death be a prolonged torture? Things like that kept coming to mind.
It didn't help matters, that no one seemed to know who he was and even when she had the servants look for the sigil of his house, no one could find anything at all.
So that left only two possibilities, one the man wasn't from the kingdom and was, in fact, a traveler, whatever kind of traveler he may have been it didn't matter.
The other possibility, was that his house was so pathetically low that no one cared to remember it, no doubt that he could belong to a family that had no land, no influence and no power whatsoever.
This would make the man absolutely worthless in all matters concerning the crown and yet despite this Mordred found herself thinking about the man.
Normally she would have been walking around in her armor, but her mood wouldn't allow it, if anyone had seen her leave, they wouldn't say a word, to them, she was nothing more, than a random woman a knight had decided to bed.
So whoever saw her, would have thought she had failed her porous and been told to leave.
So as she walked around in her spare red armor, she found herself getting more and more frustrated as the memory of that man, whose name she couldn't even remember kept coming back.
So as the smell of pork reached her nose, she decided that perhaps something to eat would help her mood, had she known what she would find when she entered the small house she would have charged in sword in hand.
The moment she enter the house, she found herself looking directly at the cause of her frustration. The man was happily eating alongside a group of other men, they drank and ate happily thought a care in the world.
The man must have sensed her presence for he briefly looked up and waved at her, the way he did so indicate that he wanted her to join them.
Mordred did so, not because the man had called out to her, but simply because she was fully intended in breaking his skull.
The rest of the men looked at the fool with looks of confusion, only for him to introduce her to them.
"Guys meet Mordred, Mordred meet the Fuurinkazan." He introduced them to each other, despite still having a mouth full of food.
The man swallowed before stopping and grinning at her "Do here for round two." He asked.
Mordred for her part simply looked at him, he wanted to break his neck, but if she did so now, the king would undoubtedly find out, so that she was a woman would not only be known, but the fact that she had killed for no reason, would severely stain her name.
"Rules" was the only thing she said.
"Same as last time, only this time it's with food," the man said as he placed a large bag filled with silver on the table.
"Waite id you two are going to do this, let's make it a fair fight. That means no putting strange things inside peoples food, to make them stop eating or make them go shit and before anyone says anything, the beer doesn't count as food." A fat man said to them.
And so the two began to eat, they are so much that with all the ruckus the men were making, a group had begun to gather, soon the cheering voices of the little people, as well as the voices of the servants of the restaurant began to mix.
Mordred found herself, gasping for air, she had never truly eaten her fill, at least not when other people were around, no humans tended to have small stomachs, so they didn't eat as much and yet the fool was keeping up with her.
Soon their plates began to become towers of their own and Mordred was beginning to worry she would actually lose this, the man had proven himself to be a worthy opponent, suddenly the sound of something hitting the table loudly made her turn her head.
The man had fallen he had eaten too much and was turning green, she had won, unfortunately, she had eaten so much, that she wasn't in any mood to fight anymore, now she just wanted to sleep.
"Sorry for all the ruckus" a man said as he gave the restaurant owner the bag filled with silver, "Give whatever is left to everyone here, that way none of it goes to waste."
Mordred didn't care who spoke those words right now all she wanted to do was go home and digest.
Her father had been the C.E.O of a company, in fact it was the one companys that had investind increasing Sword Art Online to begin with, so a lot had away been demanded from her.
It had been a strict childhood, not a bad one, just one she didn't wish for her own children. So she would learn from the actions of her parents, she would be firm, but soft, willing to lay down the law when her children did something wrong, but she would certainly not remind them of their failures constantly.
It was no secret to anyone that she was leaving the Knights of the Blood Oath, but as second in command, she knew many of the guilds secrets, so she couldn't be allowed to simply leave, at least not until things changed so much, that her information, was so outdated that it was completely useless.
So she was left with a couple of guards.
Even as she walked down the street, Asuna couldn't help herself but remember, her first female friend, she had been a petty girl, altho Asuna coulnt remember the girls name, she did remember, that the girl use to be a member of a computer club.
It was getting late and preparations for the villagers to return needed to be made and completed by the end of the week, it was almost time to prepare Yui's lounch, there was something special, in seeing her daughter eat her food so happily.
Asuna wished these days would never end.
(Character change )
Mordred found herself walking around, the day had been frustrating to say the least, she had drunken too much the day before and as a result, she was forced to deal with a hangover all day.
That much she could endure, after all she had gone out for drinks before, but it was the memory of that man that had bedded her that kept her mind spinning.
Who was he? What house has that kind of armor? How can I break every bone in his body? Should I kill him quickly or should his death be a prolonged torture? Things like that kept coming to mind.
It didn't help matters, that no one seemed to know who he was and even when she had the servants look for the sigil of his house, no one could find anything at all.
So that left only two possibilities, one the man wasn't from the kingdom and was, in fact, a traveler, whatever kind of traveler he may have been it didn't matter.
The other possibility, was that his house was so pathetically low that no one cared to remember it, no doubt that he could belong to a family that had no land, no influence and no power whatsoever.
This would make the man absolutely worthless in all matters concerning the crown and yet despite this Mordred found herself thinking about the man.
Normally she would have been walking around in her armor, but her mood wouldn't allow it, if anyone had seen her leave, they wouldn't say a word, to them, she was nothing more, than a random woman a knight had decided to bed.
So whoever saw her, would have thought she had failed her porous and been told to leave.
So as she walked around in her spare red armor, she found herself getting more and more frustrated as the memory of that man, whose name she couldn't even remember kept coming back.
So as the smell of pork reached her nose, she decided that perhaps something to eat would help her mood, had she known what she would find when she entered the small house she would have charged in sword in hand.
The moment she enter the house, she found herself looking directly at the cause of her frustration. The man was happily eating alongside a group of other men, they drank and ate happily thought a care in the world.
The man must have sensed her presence for he briefly looked up and waved at her, the way he did so indicate that he wanted her to join them.
Mordred did so, not because the man had called out to her, but simply because she was fully intended in breaking his skull.
The rest of the men looked at the fool with looks of confusion, only for him to introduce her to them.
"Guys meet Mordred, Mordred meet the Fuurinkazan." He introduced them to each other, despite still having a mouth full of food.
The man swallowed before stopping and grinning at her "Do here for round two." He asked.
Mordred for her part simply looked at him, he wanted to break his neck, but if she did so now, the king would undoubtedly find out, so that she was a woman would not only be known, but the fact that she had killed for no reason, would severely stain her name.
"Rules" was the only thing she said.
"Same as last time, only this time it's with food," the man said as he placed a large bag filled with silver on the table.
"Waite id you two are going to do this, let's make it a fair fight. That means no putting strange things inside peoples food, to make them stop eating or make them go shit and before anyone says anything, the beer doesn't count as food." A fat man said to them.
And so the two began to eat, they are so much that with all the ruckus the men were making, a group had begun to gather, soon the cheering voices of the little people, as well as the voices of the servants of the restaurant began to mix.
Mordred found herself, gasping for air, she had never truly eaten her fill, at least not when other people were around, no humans tended to have small stomachs, so they didn't eat as much and yet the fool was keeping up with her.
Soon their plates began to become towers of their own and Mordred was beginning to worry she would actually lose this, the man had proven himself to be a worthy opponent, suddenly the sound of something hitting the table loudly made her turn her head.
The man had fallen he had eaten too much and was turning green, she had won, unfortunately, she had eaten so much, that she wasn't in any mood to fight anymore, now she just wanted to sleep.
"Sorry for all the ruckus" a man said as he gave the restaurant owner the bag filled with silver, "Give whatever is left to everyone here, that way none of it goes to waste."
Mordred didn't care who spoke those words right now all she wanted to do was go home and digest.
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
There's no reason for the North and the Players to fight, they don't even know each other.
The same goes for Tywin and the people of Aincrad, Tywin is smart enough not to enrage a bunch of people, that are continuously fighting monsters.
The same goes with the players, there's really no reason for them to leave and in that note what has changed inside Aincrad.
What it's not different kingdoms but one large Empire, with smaller kingdoms under its control.
To a point, but how would things change through the castle when that point is reached and who would reach it.
And would such an event be limited to castle itself, after all it would be a rather large event in itself
The same goes for Tywin and the people of Aincrad, Tywin is smart enough not to enrage a bunch of people, that are continuously fighting monsters.
The same goes with the players, there's really no reason for them to leave and in that note what has changed inside Aincrad.
What it's not different kingdoms but one large Empire, with smaller kingdoms under its control.
To a point, but how would things change through the castle when that point is reached and who would reach it.
And would such an event be limited to castle itself, after all it would be a rather large event in itself
Last edited:
24
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
Kirito exited the inn, he had rented a room for the night and spent the majority of it in the chatroom with Asuna, it always felt like if the burden on him was lifted if only a little whenever he laid eyes on her, even if it was by using the help screen.
It had been late into the night, around the point where it stopped being night and it started becoming twilight, when the Army sent in its report, they hadn't found any more monsters in the immediate area, the surface was apparently safe, underground, however, that was for the cleaners to find out.
Apparently, someone had been spying on them during the cleaners high with the monsters, but the man had managed to get away before the army could interrogate him.
There had been spies and assassins popping up from time to time and they would either kill themselves or vanish into the shadows, before the players could find out anything useful from them.
Normally the cleaners wouldn't go into any of the caves considering it was still pretty dark outside, but it was better to get a head start for something like this, especially considering that a large number of cleaners, were gathered in one area.
His team along with several others were already gathered at the entrance of the town, they were waiting for those few people that had overlap, of course, he was one of them and the rest of the player's eyes told him they would remind him of this.
So as they waited for the last of the group to arrive, hot drinks were passed around, it was better not to eat anything, the smell of the dead or at least what they would see, would make them lose the contents in their stomachs.
So the majority of them only drank hot liquids.
The inspection would be done by three groups the Army would check out a group of caves on their side of the border, the guard of the kingdom would inspect the caves in their side, while the cleaners would handle the few that remained.
This cut the workload for all of them and it made sure that if at least one group needed help, the others could provide it, if their areas were secure.
So as the last member of their group arrived the cleaners left the town behind.
(Character change )
Tywin Lannister stood over the old master, ever since the had returned from that island the old man had thrown himself into his work, the old man had already gone thru several stacks of skins and ink and yet Tywin found himself intrigued.
One set of parchments, showed the design for a type of device that could launch several large arrows into the sky, the arrows themselves were odd to say the least, the reason being was simple and excruciatingly complicated.
Once the arrows reached a certain hight, they would open up and rain down several smaller ones on the enemy.
Images depicting the designs for windmills, that could be joined with a type of water system and provide water for every home available and if not every home then by the very least the center of any town or village.
This would device alone, would solve any issues that could come up during times of drought.
Instructions on how to build quick buildings, using only the trees around them, that could be turned into quick defenses for any prolonged sieges, were only a few of the things being drawn by the old master.
One of the things that would secure funds for his lands was a kind of layered clothing, the top would keep the person covered, while the inside would keep the individual warm. It was a coat, but a much more complex kind than the ones, the seven kingdoms had at the moment.
The fact that this method could be applied to one's trousers was only a bonus.
Yet for all of this Tywin couldn't hope but wonder what else those people knew, no one allowed strangers access to such valuable information, unless this was common knowledge for all of them, Tywin didn't want to think about the implications of that alone.
Each one of the designs brought in by the old master, could and would propel the Lannisters forward by decades, sure Tywin would share this with the rest of the seven kingdoms, but it would either be by selling it to them or only after his own territory, was so far ahead of everyone else that they couldn't possibly catch up.
Tywin allowed himself to briefly wonder about the events happening in Kings Landing, where the King was having a small festival, to celebrate his newly appointed hand.
His granddaughter had long since left to see her father, the king and Tywin hoped the girl would remain safe. The moment of weakness had passed and Tywin continued to look thru the designs, searching for anything that could be developed at this moment in time.
He stopped at a simple drawing, it was a crossbow bit one whose string was pulled by gears and the crossbow itself, could be attached to a persons wrist. From what Tywin could see the device was too big and to heavy, for it to be of any real use, but it was the devices mechanisms that caught his eye.
What could they be made to do, besides working for a simple now and arrow? He wondered
It had been late into the night, around the point where it stopped being night and it started becoming twilight, when the Army sent in its report, they hadn't found any more monsters in the immediate area, the surface was apparently safe, underground, however, that was for the cleaners to find out.
Apparently, someone had been spying on them during the cleaners high with the monsters, but the man had managed to get away before the army could interrogate him.
There had been spies and assassins popping up from time to time and they would either kill themselves or vanish into the shadows, before the players could find out anything useful from them.
Normally the cleaners wouldn't go into any of the caves considering it was still pretty dark outside, but it was better to get a head start for something like this, especially considering that a large number of cleaners, were gathered in one area.
His team along with several others were already gathered at the entrance of the town, they were waiting for those few people that had overlap, of course, he was one of them and the rest of the player's eyes told him they would remind him of this.
So as they waited for the last of the group to arrive, hot drinks were passed around, it was better not to eat anything, the smell of the dead or at least what they would see, would make them lose the contents in their stomachs.
So the majority of them only drank hot liquids.
The inspection would be done by three groups the Army would check out a group of caves on their side of the border, the guard of the kingdom would inspect the caves in their side, while the cleaners would handle the few that remained.
This cut the workload for all of them and it made sure that if at least one group needed help, the others could provide it, if their areas were secure.
So as the last member of their group arrived the cleaners left the town behind.
(Character change )
Tywin Lannister stood over the old master, ever since the had returned from that island the old man had thrown himself into his work, the old man had already gone thru several stacks of skins and ink and yet Tywin found himself intrigued.
One set of parchments, showed the design for a type of device that could launch several large arrows into the sky, the arrows themselves were odd to say the least, the reason being was simple and excruciatingly complicated.
Once the arrows reached a certain hight, they would open up and rain down several smaller ones on the enemy.
Images depicting the designs for windmills, that could be joined with a type of water system and provide water for every home available and if not every home then by the very least the center of any town or village.
This would device alone, would solve any issues that could come up during times of drought.
Instructions on how to build quick buildings, using only the trees around them, that could be turned into quick defenses for any prolonged sieges, were only a few of the things being drawn by the old master.
One of the things that would secure funds for his lands was a kind of layered clothing, the top would keep the person covered, while the inside would keep the individual warm. It was a coat, but a much more complex kind than the ones, the seven kingdoms had at the moment.
The fact that this method could be applied to one's trousers was only a bonus.
Yet for all of this Tywin couldn't hope but wonder what else those people knew, no one allowed strangers access to such valuable information, unless this was common knowledge for all of them, Tywin didn't want to think about the implications of that alone.
Each one of the designs brought in by the old master, could and would propel the Lannisters forward by decades, sure Tywin would share this with the rest of the seven kingdoms, but it would either be by selling it to them or only after his own territory, was so far ahead of everyone else that they couldn't possibly catch up.
Tywin allowed himself to briefly wonder about the events happening in Kings Landing, where the King was having a small festival, to celebrate his newly appointed hand.
His granddaughter had long since left to see her father, the king and Tywin hoped the girl would remain safe. The moment of weakness had passed and Tywin continued to look thru the designs, searching for anything that could be developed at this moment in time.
He stopped at a simple drawing, it was a crossbow bit one whose string was pulled by gears and the crossbow itself, could be attached to a persons wrist. From what Tywin could see the device was too big and to heavy, for it to be of any real use, but it was the devices mechanisms that caught his eye.
What could they be made to do, besides working for a simple now and arrow? He wondered
25
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
(Character change)
Kirito walked down the naturally carved cave tunnels, his only source of light was the torches he, as well as the rest of the cleaners, carried with them. That had been walking for hours and still no sign of the enemy, it was only due to the fact that their help screens created a map of the area that any of them, even dared going so deep into the darkness.
From time to time, they would find themselves in a dead end and be forced to turnaround and go down another path, it was strange even the Army was finding itself having to go down strange twists and turns, from time to time.
Normally, this wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary, except that when the players arrived at one of the dead ends, dragon scales litter the cave floors.
The smell of ash, completely took over and the stale unclear are that existed below ground would be completely gone, by that point.
From time to time, the cave walls would glow and become hot, yet theg would instantly cool, in such a speed that they almost seemed like if they would turn to ice.
"Area secure" someone from the Army announced.
"Nothing on our part" a member of the native's kingdom spoke to them by communications crystal.
"Yeah, same here" answered one of the leaders of the various team's.
The mood amongst the cleaners began to lighten up, by no means were they anywhere near any form of safety, after all, they were still underground and there were a variety of monsters that could burrow.
But with the main threat gone, the large group of people, felt that with their numbers some form of securely could exist.
Kirito along with everyone else, began to walk out of the cave and as the group of cleaners walked, they began to realize that the cave they were in was becoming hotter and hotter by the second.
Slowly panic began to see in, as the ceiling, the ground and the walls around them began to shake, it was a volcanic eruption and they were right in the center of it all.
The cleaners ran, some used the teleporting crystals to get to the nearest town, taking one or two people with them, others chose to simply run as fast as they could, leaving those slower than themselves behind.
Unfortunately, such a large gathering of people all heading towards one exit made it difficult to move, when one reached a certain point and everyone became unable to move when they finally reached the exit.
So as the ground continued to shake Kirito saw his vision become dark, as rocks, dirt and whatever else caves were made of fell into of him.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"Quick send the alert!"
"Do we have any casualties!"
Kirito woke up to the various voices of the cleaner and the scouts if the nearby kingdom, thankfully the cleaners were players, so their bodies were considerably stronger than the bodies of regular humans.
So something like having a cave fall on top of you, was only dangerous if you ran out of air.
Still, he didn't have time to think about his situation and so he began to dig himself up, all around him, he could feel hands and feet moving, the rest of the cleaners were trying to pull themselves out.
Finally the sensation of cold air touched Doritos hand, alerting him that he had finally reached the surface, how he and the rest of the cleaners must have looked, as they pulled themselves out of the ground, to any onlookers Kirito didn't know or care.
No, the only thing Kirito was worried about, was getting some fresh air.
Finally reaching the surface, kirito gasped as his lungs took in his first breath, the first thing Kirito noticed was just now hot the surface felt.
Not the air or the wind, just the overall climate, also slowly or perhaps it was instantly, all of the screaming from both the players and the knights, had come to a complete stop and it was only when he bothered to look back at the cave that nearly killed them all, that kirito realized why everyone seemed to go quiet.
There towering over them all was a massive white dragon, the likes of which shouldn't be possible, its body glowed as the fire inside it seemed to make the slight openings on its sales glow bright red, ashes cover it from head to toe.
Yet for all its display of power, the dragon didn't register as an enemy and it was only after a minute that Kirito realized why.
"It's during of old age" Kirito said as he looked at the massive creature, whose head just kept looking at the sky.
Then like if by coincidence, or perhaps being called by the awakening dragon, the sky suddenly ignited with the color of a bright red comment moving in the sky. The dragon for its part, simply lowered itself back down.
Just doing this much movement drained its stamina, the onese power creature was brought low, not by beast, sword, or mage, but by simply old age.
The only reason it even moved, must have been because someone must have done something to disturb the creature.
"There's no point in us killing it, its already dead." Said Lancelot as he walked up to Kirito, who himself was still on the ground covered in dirt.
"When it dies, as per our agreement, do to the fact that the left leg-wing-tail-horn-part of its mouth and body, will belong to us."
"Of course everything on the right side will belong to the Army, so what's left will be for you cleaners." Lancelot said to kirito, however the way he spoke, led kirito to believe that he wouldn't accept any other kind of offer.
"Talk to the team leaders" kkritk answers Lancelot, before he finally stood back on his two feet.
(Character change Arthur/Arthuria Pendragon)
For the first time in years, she found herself not able to understand how exactly she has ended up in this situation.
Currently, she was fighting a small group of want to be knights, altho they left a lot to be expected, they either had had more than their fare share of food, ate too little or simply lacked discipline.
Their armors were a mismatch of things, she was certain that was up from here and there. She had been performing one of her usual walks around the city, the kind one does, when needing a change of scenery.
Granted it was still the ideal city, but the people would make slight changes and she found herself enjoying herself as she tried to figure out what those changes were.
Her guard was always nearby, they were only around so that no one wondered why a woman hadn't been charged for breaking several peoples bones, if something were to happen.
It was then that she found this group of fools and as they fought one another, she found herself picking up one of the sticks they were using.
Arturia was dressed as a peasant woman and no one questions her about it, people weren't idiots, but really who would believe the queen would be walking around like this, they must have thought she was just someone that looked like her.
"Can you fight!" One of the men asked, when he saw her with the sword/stick.
Arturia only answered assuming a basic sword stance.
Slowly she found herself smiling, as she easily dodged the men's attacks, at first it had been one by one, now they all attacked as a group.
She found herself digging deeper and deeper into her dragons core, the source of all her power. Left-right-above-below, she dodged every attack with a calmness that few could ever manage and yet she found that a strange sound was being edited from her.
Slowly Arturia found, that's she was laughing, she could actually feel the wind of their attacks now, so she decided to put them down, a struck on the rear end of one of the men, another on the head of the other and another, felt her give him a slight tap on the forehead.
The last if them simply gave up.
"You win" said a man as another one walked up to her and handed her a small sheet of paper, the paper had several different kinds of food displayed on it.
"We were fighting for who got to choose where we eat, as the winner its tour choice. Don't worry, well pay for it." The spiky hair man said to her and so Arturia pointed at something, she hadn't eaten in a long time, cake
Kirito walked down the naturally carved cave tunnels, his only source of light was the torches he, as well as the rest of the cleaners, carried with them. That had been walking for hours and still no sign of the enemy, it was only due to the fact that their help screens created a map of the area that any of them, even dared going so deep into the darkness.
From time to time, they would find themselves in a dead end and be forced to turnaround and go down another path, it was strange even the Army was finding itself having to go down strange twists and turns, from time to time.
Normally, this wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary, except that when the players arrived at one of the dead ends, dragon scales litter the cave floors.
The smell of ash, completely took over and the stale unclear are that existed below ground would be completely gone, by that point.
From time to time, the cave walls would glow and become hot, yet theg would instantly cool, in such a speed that they almost seemed like if they would turn to ice.
"Area secure" someone from the Army announced.
"Nothing on our part" a member of the native's kingdom spoke to them by communications crystal.
"Yeah, same here" answered one of the leaders of the various team's.
The mood amongst the cleaners began to lighten up, by no means were they anywhere near any form of safety, after all, they were still underground and there were a variety of monsters that could burrow.
But with the main threat gone, the large group of people, felt that with their numbers some form of securely could exist.
Kirito along with everyone else, began to walk out of the cave and as the group of cleaners walked, they began to realize that the cave they were in was becoming hotter and hotter by the second.
Slowly panic began to see in, as the ceiling, the ground and the walls around them began to shake, it was a volcanic eruption and they were right in the center of it all.
The cleaners ran, some used the teleporting crystals to get to the nearest town, taking one or two people with them, others chose to simply run as fast as they could, leaving those slower than themselves behind.
Unfortunately, such a large gathering of people all heading towards one exit made it difficult to move, when one reached a certain point and everyone became unable to move when they finally reached the exit.
So as the ground continued to shake Kirito saw his vision become dark, as rocks, dirt and whatever else caves were made of fell into of him.
"What the hell is that thing?"
"Quick send the alert!"
"Do we have any casualties!"
Kirito woke up to the various voices of the cleaner and the scouts if the nearby kingdom, thankfully the cleaners were players, so their bodies were considerably stronger than the bodies of regular humans.
So something like having a cave fall on top of you, was only dangerous if you ran out of air.
Still, he didn't have time to think about his situation and so he began to dig himself up, all around him, he could feel hands and feet moving, the rest of the cleaners were trying to pull themselves out.
Finally the sensation of cold air touched Doritos hand, alerting him that he had finally reached the surface, how he and the rest of the cleaners must have looked, as they pulled themselves out of the ground, to any onlookers Kirito didn't know or care.
No, the only thing Kirito was worried about, was getting some fresh air.
Finally reaching the surface, kirito gasped as his lungs took in his first breath, the first thing Kirito noticed was just now hot the surface felt.
Not the air or the wind, just the overall climate, also slowly or perhaps it was instantly, all of the screaming from both the players and the knights, had come to a complete stop and it was only when he bothered to look back at the cave that nearly killed them all, that kirito realized why everyone seemed to go quiet.
There towering over them all was a massive white dragon, the likes of which shouldn't be possible, its body glowed as the fire inside it seemed to make the slight openings on its sales glow bright red, ashes cover it from head to toe.
Yet for all its display of power, the dragon didn't register as an enemy and it was only after a minute that Kirito realized why.
"It's during of old age" Kirito said as he looked at the massive creature, whose head just kept looking at the sky.
Then like if by coincidence, or perhaps being called by the awakening dragon, the sky suddenly ignited with the color of a bright red comment moving in the sky. The dragon for its part, simply lowered itself back down.
Just doing this much movement drained its stamina, the onese power creature was brought low, not by beast, sword, or mage, but by simply old age.
The only reason it even moved, must have been because someone must have done something to disturb the creature.
"There's no point in us killing it, its already dead." Said Lancelot as he walked up to Kirito, who himself was still on the ground covered in dirt.
"When it dies, as per our agreement, do to the fact that the left leg-wing-tail-horn-part of its mouth and body, will belong to us."
"Of course everything on the right side will belong to the Army, so what's left will be for you cleaners." Lancelot said to kirito, however the way he spoke, led kirito to believe that he wouldn't accept any other kind of offer.
"Talk to the team leaders" kkritk answers Lancelot, before he finally stood back on his two feet.
(Character change Arthur/Arthuria Pendragon)
For the first time in years, she found herself not able to understand how exactly she has ended up in this situation.
Currently, she was fighting a small group of want to be knights, altho they left a lot to be expected, they either had had more than their fare share of food, ate too little or simply lacked discipline.
Their armors were a mismatch of things, she was certain that was up from here and there. She had been performing one of her usual walks around the city, the kind one does, when needing a change of scenery.
Granted it was still the ideal city, but the people would make slight changes and she found herself enjoying herself as she tried to figure out what those changes were.
Her guard was always nearby, they were only around so that no one wondered why a woman hadn't been charged for breaking several peoples bones, if something were to happen.
It was then that she found this group of fools and as they fought one another, she found herself picking up one of the sticks they were using.
Arturia was dressed as a peasant woman and no one questions her about it, people weren't idiots, but really who would believe the queen would be walking around like this, they must have thought she was just someone that looked like her.
"Can you fight!" One of the men asked, when he saw her with the sword/stick.
Arturia only answered assuming a basic sword stance.
Slowly she found herself smiling, as she easily dodged the men's attacks, at first it had been one by one, now they all attacked as a group.
She found herself digging deeper and deeper into her dragons core, the source of all her power. Left-right-above-below, she dodged every attack with a calmness that few could ever manage and yet she found that a strange sound was being edited from her.
Slowly Arturia found, that's she was laughing, she could actually feel the wind of their attacks now, so she decided to put them down, a struck on the rear end of one of the men, another on the head of the other and another, felt her give him a slight tap on the forehead.
The last if them simply gave up.
"You win" said a man as another one walked up to her and handed her a small sheet of paper, the paper had several different kinds of food displayed on it.
"We were fighting for who got to choose where we eat, as the winner its tour choice. Don't worry, well pay for it." The spiky hair man said to her and so Arturia pointed at something, she hadn't eaten in a long time, cake
26
blueayes
If you want peace, then you must prepare for war.
- Location
- austin
(Kirito)
He was busy looking thru the account book, Asuna had spent more than he previously thought possible, unfortunately, things like seeds, fertilizer and basic human necessities were expensive, especially when they were bought all at once.
The pegacorns attack had really done a number in the surrounding area and it was only because the scouts had sent out the warnings, that he-Asuna and Yui, alongside the few people that now lived in the area, could escape.
The people of Aincrad were the important ones, if the lands were still there when it could be resettled, fields could be formed and seeds could be planted, as for any domesticated farm animal, they could either be bought or caught.
Lumber alone was a headache, whatever those horned horses with wings were planning must have been pretty strange, for a number of houses uncovered showed signs of being remodeled.
The doors were wider and the window lower then they should have been, like if the houses were made for something as small as a dwarf, or a dog, someone even suggested that, those things were making the villages ready for their own kind to live in.
But that was reticular, why would horses need houses for they were animals, maybe magical animals but animals none the less.
So a lot of remodeling of the remaining buildings had to be done.
He switched to a message sent to him, by his old friend Klein, apparently, the scouts had yet to find the door leading to the floor bosses area, so the scouts couldn't advance any further, any attempt they made, were met with an overwhelming response by the monsters on that floor.
So from time to time, his team would switch with one of the other team's just to go look, but for now they decided not to worry about it and enjoy their time in one of the cities in that floor, apparently they had met a girl that was fun to be around, do to her overly angry attitude, but that attitude was just an act, considering she still did half the things the Fuurinkazan guild did to have fun.
They had also met an elder woman, that apparently had breast the size of a man head, that could fight them all and win, despite the guild attacking her with everything they had.
Both women were fun to be around despite just being a renegade knight and a simple village girl, a twist even kirito didn't see coming.
The twist wasn't that none of the men had any intention of having any sexual or romantic affairs with the women, after all scouts knew that they were entering the jaws of death, by going so far ahead of everyone else.
No, the twist was that the Fuurinkazan was one of the strongest guilds around, by no means were their numbers anything to look at, but they had not stopped fighting in the frontlines, where many players had stopped growing or slowed down, they along with the rest of the scouts just kept going up and they had found two people, that could keep up with them.
The sound of metal moving alerted him that break time was over, he turned to look at his team and smiled, before they were enemies, now they were somewhat acquaintances, not friends but certainly not enemies.
Some were ex-members of the Murder Guild Laughing Coffin, but when people started to bleed and actually have to do some basic bodily functions, they stopped acting like idiots and accepted the fact that this was all real.
Most couldn't be accepted in towns, cities or villages, because of everything they had done before, so most of them just became scouts or cleaners, it was a hard life but not a bad one and by doing this, the doors to all of those villages-towns and cities are suddenly open to them.
Kirito stood up and stretched his hands to the sky, he heard his bones pop, immediately after, it was time to get back to work.
(Character change Eddard/ Ned Stark)
He stood in a dark room there was no sound-mell or any way of knowing where he was going, suddenly the world around him changed and he found himself standing buddies himself and the king's guards as they made camp for the night.
He slowly realized that he was watching the events of the past, when he was just coming to kings landing.
Suddenly the loud grow of the strange creature made itself known and he found himself walking towards it.
For the first time in years, he felt the feelings of regret-shame and anger, but overall fear.
What stood before him hidden by the darkness of the night, was a massive red dragon, the creature was injured, in such a way that Ned knew that it would not survive.
It's chest had been broken, like if a large hammer had struck it, with so much power that its shield-like sales were broken beyond repair.
It was a dying beast, the grow of a wulf made him turn and Ned found himself looking at a young man with short black hair and the way he looked reminded him of his second youngest son, back home.
He felt his heart begin to beat in such a way that it made his combat instincts kick in and it was only because of those instincts that he dodged an incoming attack, a man holding a black sword and one that seemed to have a purple like color.
Yet who the man was Ned Stark did not know, the man and his two swords vanished before being replaced by a creature that had nobody but wielded a large scythe, before it stood a pale man dressed in white, while six glowing eyes that seemed to grow closer looked in their direction.
Yet it was what caught Ned eye that filled him with fear, the throne, the mark that held the seven kingdoms together... Was empty, no one sat upon it and there was chaos.
Ned stark awoke from his and he found himself staring at peace simply peace of animal skin, it was an invitation for a representative or a group of representatives from the strangers, to be allowed to enter Kings Landing and begin negotiations with the main kingdom itself.
He was busy looking thru the account book, Asuna had spent more than he previously thought possible, unfortunately, things like seeds, fertilizer and basic human necessities were expensive, especially when they were bought all at once.
The pegacorns attack had really done a number in the surrounding area and it was only because the scouts had sent out the warnings, that he-Asuna and Yui, alongside the few people that now lived in the area, could escape.
The people of Aincrad were the important ones, if the lands were still there when it could be resettled, fields could be formed and seeds could be planted, as for any domesticated farm animal, they could either be bought or caught.
Lumber alone was a headache, whatever those horned horses with wings were planning must have been pretty strange, for a number of houses uncovered showed signs of being remodeled.
The doors were wider and the window lower then they should have been, like if the houses were made for something as small as a dwarf, or a dog, someone even suggested that, those things were making the villages ready for their own kind to live in.
But that was reticular, why would horses need houses for they were animals, maybe magical animals but animals none the less.
So a lot of remodeling of the remaining buildings had to be done.
He switched to a message sent to him, by his old friend Klein, apparently, the scouts had yet to find the door leading to the floor bosses area, so the scouts couldn't advance any further, any attempt they made, were met with an overwhelming response by the monsters on that floor.
So from time to time, his team would switch with one of the other team's just to go look, but for now they decided not to worry about it and enjoy their time in one of the cities in that floor, apparently they had met a girl that was fun to be around, do to her overly angry attitude, but that attitude was just an act, considering she still did half the things the Fuurinkazan guild did to have fun.
They had also met an elder woman, that apparently had breast the size of a man head, that could fight them all and win, despite the guild attacking her with everything they had.
Both women were fun to be around despite just being a renegade knight and a simple village girl, a twist even kirito didn't see coming.
The twist wasn't that none of the men had any intention of having any sexual or romantic affairs with the women, after all scouts knew that they were entering the jaws of death, by going so far ahead of everyone else.
No, the twist was that the Fuurinkazan was one of the strongest guilds around, by no means were their numbers anything to look at, but they had not stopped fighting in the frontlines, where many players had stopped growing or slowed down, they along with the rest of the scouts just kept going up and they had found two people, that could keep up with them.
The sound of metal moving alerted him that break time was over, he turned to look at his team and smiled, before they were enemies, now they were somewhat acquaintances, not friends but certainly not enemies.
Some were ex-members of the Murder Guild Laughing Coffin, but when people started to bleed and actually have to do some basic bodily functions, they stopped acting like idiots and accepted the fact that this was all real.
Most couldn't be accepted in towns, cities or villages, because of everything they had done before, so most of them just became scouts or cleaners, it was a hard life but not a bad one and by doing this, the doors to all of those villages-towns and cities are suddenly open to them.
Kirito stood up and stretched his hands to the sky, he heard his bones pop, immediately after, it was time to get back to work.
(Character change Eddard/ Ned Stark)
He stood in a dark room there was no sound-mell or any way of knowing where he was going, suddenly the world around him changed and he found himself standing buddies himself and the king's guards as they made camp for the night.
He slowly realized that he was watching the events of the past, when he was just coming to kings landing.
Suddenly the loud grow of the strange creature made itself known and he found himself walking towards it.
For the first time in years, he felt the feelings of regret-shame and anger, but overall fear.
What stood before him hidden by the darkness of the night, was a massive red dragon, the creature was injured, in such a way that Ned knew that it would not survive.
It's chest had been broken, like if a large hammer had struck it, with so much power that its shield-like sales were broken beyond repair.
It was a dying beast, the grow of a wulf made him turn and Ned found himself looking at a young man with short black hair and the way he looked reminded him of his second youngest son, back home.
He felt his heart begin to beat in such a way that it made his combat instincts kick in and it was only because of those instincts that he dodged an incoming attack, a man holding a black sword and one that seemed to have a purple like color.
Yet who the man was Ned Stark did not know, the man and his two swords vanished before being replaced by a creature that had nobody but wielded a large scythe, before it stood a pale man dressed in white, while six glowing eyes that seemed to grow closer looked in their direction.
Yet it was what caught Ned eye that filled him with fear, the throne, the mark that held the seven kingdoms together... Was empty, no one sat upon it and there was chaos.
Ned stark awoke from his and he found himself staring at peace simply peace of animal skin, it was an invitation for a representative or a group of representatives from the strangers, to be allowed to enter Kings Landing and begin negotiations with the main kingdom itself.