A Past Experience

I'm sensing a dead Crump soon.

Please don't be true, George R. R. Martin has killed enough characters that I like ;-;


But overall, seems like a really thought through story, looking forward to reading more!

A bit shorter than the previous two, but I hit a good stopping point for this entry.

    They waited for sun to start its descent before they left home. Both had dressed for the occasion. Crump had his chainmail on underneath his studded leather armor pieces. Blank’s garb was the same as her normal clothes save for color, all black leather armor, offering minimal sound and maximum ease of movement. After a fifteen minute walk in silence, Blank and Crump arrived at the designated meeting location, an old watch tower, ingrained into the walls of the city. It had been abandoned since the lords of the city decided it was too expensive and too impractical to rebuild a tower that wasn’t on the outer walls. Reginald stepped out of the shadow of a nearby mansion.
    “Been waiting here.” He was in his “infiltration” gear, studded leather armor with plate sleeves and gauntlets. He had stuffed cloth beneath the plates to muffle any noise. Blank thought to herself that his ensemble wasn’t the most subtle, but it was as good as he was going to get. Crump spoke up, “Can’t ever leave the house without at least a little plate, eh?” Reginald smiled, “Hey fella, I don’t ever leave to twins exposed, no matter the job,” flexing a little for emphasis. Blank looked around briefly, “Where’s Archibald?” “Here.” They all looked for the source of the voice. “Up here idiots,” Archibald threw a heavy rope down from his perch on the wall.
    Crump stood facing the rope, preparing to climb. He’d been afraid of heights since his older brother knocked him out of a tree he had climbed when he was 8. 40 years later, he stood at the bottom of a 50 foot city wall eyeing a rope he hoped was not only secure, but would also take his 400 pound frame. He quickly wiped a forming bead of sweat away as Archibald shouted down, “Well? You don’t expect me to pull you up, do ya?” Blank slowly approached Crump and placed a tender hand on his shoulder, “Crump,” she whispered, “It’ll be okay.” Crump turned his head to see her silver eyes gently looking at him. He gave a cocky grin, “Of course it will be, those men in dresses won’t know what hit ‘em.” Blank simply nodded and gave him a soft smile, not mentioning the fear she saw lurking in his eyes. “Hey princess, he can braid your hair later, he needs to get his ass up here!” Blank shot Archibald an angry glance, “Be quiet! Do you want the guard to hear?”
    Crump gave his body a quick shake and proceeded to scale the wall. Blank watched his steady ascension then turned to Reginald. “Is Priscilla here yet?” “Not yet, but don’t worry. You go on ahead and I’ll wait for the lass.” Blank nodded and began climbing the wall. Reginald watched her and as she rose higher, his watching became leering at the attractive backside of the Drow. “Mr. Reginald?”
    Startled out of his voyeurism, he jumped and turned. Priscilla stood there, as beautiful as ever, the green robe she was wearing had delicate silver and gold patterns cascading around it. “Are you alright?” Reginald chuckle a bit embarrassed, “Fine lassie, just startled me is all. Are you sure that gown is fit for tonight?” She glanced down at it, “Sorry, this was the best I could do on short notice. I would have bought something, but after what Crump told me last night, I decided to save all the money I can.” “Indeed, I am sorry about you da.” She curtseyed slightly, “Thank you.” “But I count you lucky, my da beat me and my sister bloody most nights. At least until I was old enough to kill the bastard myself,” he added with a grin. Priscilla was unsure how to take this unexpected exposition and gave an uneasy smile. Reginald turned to face the wall, “Now then let’s get up the wall. Can you manage or do you need a hand?” Priscilla retrieved a pair of delicate leather gloves out of her bag, “I think I can do it.” Reginald laughed at the sight of them, “Fancy gloves lassie. Let me give you a hand or you’ll ruin them.” He picked her up by the waist and hoisted her as high as he could, then put his hands beneath her shoes to boost her higher. “Blank! Pass her a line!”
    Blank, who was over half way up the wall, looked down to see Priscilla tightly gripping the rope. She pulled a long cord from her bag, tied one end around her waist and dropped the remainder down. Priscilla caught the slack and secured it around her waist, “Thank you Blank.” Blank nodded down to her and wound the excess cord and herself and then continued rising. Priscilla own climb was made significantly easier and made rapid progress. Reginald made a last survey of the immediate area, “Right then.” He looked up wall, thinking of the difficultly of the climb ahead. However a brief flash of what was under Priscilla robe gave him all the motivation he needed and began his ascent.

Still reading.

It's a fun read so far. I like the segmentation. Can't wait for more! I wanna write something like this for Tec when I'm not working most the week haha

Haha I love it I knew Archie would spill blood whether it was a drop or a lot haha can't wait for more. It perfectly tenuous!

Part six.  Stuff happens.

    The bodies were stashed. They were hidden as best as could be expected, but they needed to hurry. The rest of the floor was clear and they continued up the next stairwell.
    Blank was more angry than horrified at what Archibald had done. She wasn’t unfamiliar with death and violence, but she preferred nonlethal methods if it was possible. Priscilla was keeping up as best she could, still somewhat in shock over the massacre wrought by Archibald. Crump and Reginald had long since become immune to the shock of death and continued on unfazed. Archibald relished the opportunity to finally see some action, one-sided as it may have been. This whole enterprise was going too slow for him however and he rushed the group onward.
    The next few floors were sparsely patrolled, a stray guard here or there, all of which were either easily avoided or quickly dispatched by Blank, who tried to limit the death toll. Finally they reached their destination.
    “Alright, here we are,” Archibald halted everyone. Crump looked at the door Archibald stopped at, “Are you sure? It looks just like every other door we have seen so far.” “Trust me, I know,” Archibald said as he reached onto his bag. He pulled out a vibrating orb that glowed white softly. “Resonates when it nears it counter,” he simply stated as he put it back in his bag.
    Once again Blank went to work on the door. She listened and oiled the hinges as she had done before, only this door was locked and was fitted with a magical trap of some kind. “Hang on, give me a minute,” speaking to everyone while barely turning away from the door. She produced a blank scroll from a pouch and flattened it out on the door. She then retrieved a quill and pricked her finger for “ink”. She wrote obscure arcane letters on the scroll and with each small wisps of energy dissipated from the door. When she was done the scroll glowed briefly before disintegrating. “Now for the hard part…” she thought to herself as she replaced her quill and procured her other toolset. One instrument in each hand, she poked and prodded the lock. After a couple of minutes a satisfying sliding of metal was heard as the door swung silently opened. Archibald was the first to move, “Let’s hurry, we’re almost done.”
    This room was empty, bare stone with various lines and scripts carved into it. In the center was a small altar with an orb similar to the one Archibald had, only this one glowed black. It seemed to drain the light out of the room, with its immediate vicinity almost pitch black. “You all,” Archibald glared at everyone, “wait here.” He once again pulled his white orb out, now shining much brighter and shaking more violently. Everyone looked at each other with looks of either puzzlement or anxiety. He turned his back to them and moved toward the altar, each step closer causing both orbs to glow and vibrate more intensely. When he stood before the altar, he paused briefly. The walls danced with light and dark swirling and intertwining along them. Finally he held the white orb over the black and released it. After an eternity of plummeting, they connected.
    A loud screeching noise pierced the relative silence. Everyone reeled from the deafening sound. Priscilla screamed silently as blood began to trickle from her nose and ears. Blank was on her knees trying in vain to block the noise. As she looked up she saw Archibald, who appear to be unaffected by the cacophony, watching the orbs slowly grind into each other. She closed her eyes as she began to blackout.
    And then all was silent. She reopened her eyes and the room appeared tranquil. The room was a stale grey, with no source of light or dark emanating. Crump knelt next to her, checking to see if she was still conscious. She looked to her other companions. Reginald was kneeling holding a limp Priscilla, her eyes appeared to have rolled back and her mouth hung slack. Archibald simply stood near the now inert altar looking over them all. Behind him a simple glass orb seemed to rest on the altar.
    Crump quickly rose to his feet and approached him, “What the hell was that!” He grabbed Archibald by the throat and lifted him high in the air. Archibald struggled slightly but still kept a smug sneer on his face, “That’s what I was paid to do. What you were paid to do. If you have a problem with it, take it up with your cartel. I’m sure they would gladly assist you with any grievances.” Crump released him and looked back at Blank and Reginald. Blank returned to her feet but Reginald was still, looking down at Priscilla with grief. Blank slowly walked over to him and placed a hand on Priscilla’s neck. She felt a weak pulse and looked into his eyes,”Reg, she is going to be okay.” He looked at Blank and silently nodded his headed before returning his gaze to Priscilla. Blank stood up and looked at Archibald, “Okay, are we done here? Can we leave, please?” Archibald simply laughed, “You really are far too soft for this kind of work. But yeah, we’re done.” They all slowly made their way out the door. Archibald was last out, taking one last look at the inactive orb. A faint red appeared as he smiled and closed the door.

Part Seven.  Okay so this is my first time writing an action sequence, so let me know what you think.

    The group made rapid progress down a few more floors and stairwells. All seemed abandoned, but they knew what guards remained had retreated to form an ambush. All had drawn their respective weapons of choice, even Reginald was wielding his greatsword in one hand while carrying Priscilla in the other. He had a rekindled focus, getting Priscilla out alive, and it made him ready to fight all the harder.
    They reached the bottom of a stairwell, only this one didn’t lead into another long hallway, instead opening into a large room encompassing nearly the entire level. On the opposite side Blank could made out a gate leading to the next stairwell. But this is where the trap would be sprung. The party paused one last time for final preparations, readying themselves both physically and mentally. And then they entered.
    It was fairly dark, but Blank could see everything. She saw the three score men “hiding” in the darkness. Along the top of the walls she could see the two dozen arrow slits and the shadows moving behind them. But she pressed on still, prepared for the chaos that was about to erupt.
    When they reached the center of the room the braziers ignited. The entire room immediately illuminated, revealing everything that she saw. The guards however were not the simple guards anticipated. These were members of the garrison, trained and hardened warriors with many battles worth of experience. What may have been simply a prolonged brawl was now a difficult if not unwinnable battle. Every soldier had unsheathed their sword or spear and face the surrounded group. For a moment all were still. Archibald made the first move.
    The second he charged the nearest soldier, all hell broke loose. Ten men immediately rushed him. He deflected the blade of the initial man he flew at with one sword and drove the other into his neck. The next soldier thrust his spear at him, but he dodged aside it and cut his hands off with his next swing. Two soldiers attacked Archibald, keeping him on the defensive with quick swings of their swords. A fifth soldier was charged an opening created by them aiming for Archibald’s heart. Before he could reach his target, Blank had vaulted over Archibald and landed her daggers in the spearman’s skull. Distracted by the flying Drow, the two swordsmen momentarily relented, enough time for Archibald to knock their swords aside and impale them with his own. Another spearman rushed Blank, she responded by sheathing her daggers, ducking his thrust and then tripping the soldier. She then quickly grabbed his spear before he could recover and killed him with his own weapon. The last two spearmen and swordsman all assaulted Archibald together, hoping to overwhelm him. The spearmen thrust in concert making it difficult to dodge, so instead he parried. After knocking their spears aside, he stabbed his blades into their chests. Before he could retract them however, the swordsman was on him and Archibald was fighting unarmed. With only one opponent to concentrate on, he easily dodged repeated swings of the soldier’s blade. Finally after one particularly poor swing, Archibald made his move and delivered a hard blow to his neck to wind him and quickly followed up by snapping the soldier’s neck. Afterward he reclaimed his blades from the spearmen’s corpses.
    The other fifty soldiers paused briefly, dumbstruck. Two of these thieves had just killed ten of them in the span of a few minutes. They were well trained, but for fighting against enemies who fought like them. They were thoroughly unprepared for foes such as these. A commander could be heard shouting from the rear, “Disengage!” The soldiers responded by stepping back several paces. A second order was shouted, “Archers! Aim and fire!” A moment later arrows flew through the slits high along the walls.
    Archibald and Blank were quick enough to dodge or parry the few shot at them. Crump blocked with his shield causing the arrows to bounce of his shield and fall harmlessly to the floor. Reginald had neither a shield to defend with nor the freedom to dodge quickly. He avoided a couple arrows by dodging at the last second, and a few more glanced off of his plated arms, but one found its mark in his thigh. He shouted in pain before quickly breaking off the shaft from his leg. The volley had caused them to spread out somewhat and the commander ordered another five of men to assault each isolated warrior.
    Archibald swung a high blade at the face of his nearest attacker which was immediately ducked. What the soldier missed was the second blade flying low at his head’s new level. Three soldiers attacked in concert with sword and spear. Archibald was prepared for the joint assault this time and quickly tripped the first soldier and then sided stepped and swung over the spearman’s thrust. The third soldier was quickly slain before his tripped companion could recover. Archibald executed the grounded soldier before moving on to the last. The lone soldier never stood a chance as Archibald danced around him, toying with him before finally ending his struggle.
    Blank took a more proactive approach and quickly somersaulted over the soldier in front of her, slicing his neck in midair, and landed in a crouch. As she rose she sheathed a dagger into two more soldiers’ necks. The last two finally caught up with her and began dueling her with their swords. She dodged and parried their blades before finally sinking a dagger into the exposed gap in one of the soldier’s armor. The last soldier took advantage of her momentary preoccupation and thrust his blade at her chest. She was able to parry the sword at the last minute, but still took a grazing strike on her arm. She quickly responded by grabbing his wrist and flipping him to the floor. She landed on top him and drove a powerful strike through his chestplate and into his heart.
    Crump redirected a blow off of his shield and to the floor and drove his axe into the skull of his attacker. He parried the next swordsman’s strike with his axe and slammed the pointed bottom of his kite shield into his face. Two spearmen worked together and rained thrusts upon him forcing him to keep his guard up. Fed up after a few moment, he lead back out of range of their spears and threw his axe into one of their chests. The other turned to look at his fallen comrade and was quickly caught by the neck. Crump crushed the man’s neck in his hand and dropped him before retrieving his axe. The final swordsman launched his assault before he could regain it however. Crump parried his attacker with his shield and answered with a shield bash. The force of the blow knocked the swordsman sideways and Crump grabbed his head and quickly brought him down, breaking his spine over his knee.
    Reginald was in for a difficult fight. He leg was injured and he still had Priscilla slung over his shoulder. But he was never one to surrender easily. He swung his greatsword down onto a swordsman. The man tried to block it, but the force was too great and knocked aside his blade and the blow sunk into his shoulder. Reginald pulled his sword out the dead man and swung it around in time to deflect another swordsman strike. He kicked the swordsman off his feet and brought his weapon around for an attack on a spearman. This time his sword stuck fast in the man’s side and a swordsman took advantage and slashed his back causing him to grunt in pain and release his sword. He turned swiftly and threw a fierce punch into the man’s face, bloodying it and knocking him unconscious. A spearman charged Reginald, aiming for his heart. Reginald grabbed the spear and broke off the head off it. He turned it on the spearman and drove it into his neck. The kicked swordsman had recovered by now and was made for Reginald with an overhead strike. Reginald hurriedly reacquired his sword from the fallen spearman and delivered a hard rising swing. His reach was greater than the swordsman’s and cut open his chest and face. Finally having a brief reprieve, Reginald paused for a moment before moving to the unconscious swordsman and issuing a brutal stomp to his skull.
    With their respective fights over, the group took stock of the situation. They were getting tired and injuries were beginning to mount. Though they had taken out twenty men, there was still another thirty remaining not including the archers prepared to fire on them. They needed a way out.