Outracing the Flames RPG

[Valier]

Vaenosa was enjoying the peace of the on coming twilight. She enjoyed the time to herself, to scout the area ahead of the group. It gave her a sense of independence and a slight hint of belonging to a group. Vaenosa shifted on Nay's back and moved her bow from one hand to the other. She was leaning Nay to turn around and head the short distance back to the group of riders, when a strange noise began from overhead.Vaenosa cocked her head to the sound, it sounded almost familiar...yet different.


Thunk..........thunk, thunk. Arrows came flying from all directions, some whizzing passed, others grazing or hitting the group. Vaenosa's eyes went wide, she was so surprised she was almost dazed. Everything seemed to be happening so fast.

With a sickening Thwack an arrow lodged deep in her thigh, bringing her back to her senses. Men began to charge from all directions.Nay squeeled in fright and took of, nearly leaving Vaenosa behind. She regained her grip on his reins and pulled back. She was facing away from the scattering group heading towards the right side of the hill. She turned Nay around and almost screamed in the effort, the arrow still lodged in her left thigh was seeping blood down her leg, but she would not leave the others to die.

Readying her own bow, Vaenosa saw Sythric fighting with two Men to her left, but before she could help, Nay squeeled and turned towards an on coming man approaching from behind them, followed closely by another.
Vaenosa let fly a missle, but it went wild, she followed the first quickly with another, it hit the man hard under his out stretched arms, but he continued towards her arms reaching for her.

As he drew closer Vaenosa grabbed for the blade on Nay's side, but Nay had other plans. He drew up in anger and thrashed the man with his hooves. The man went down. He was trampled by Nay's feet as he began to charge at the second quickly approaching man. The man had an evil look and smiled as he saw the advancing woman and rider. Vaenosa dropped the blade as she fumbled to regain her bow and attempt to load another missle, before her estranged horse ran them straight into an oncoming sword.

Nay just kept on charging, head down straight for the now slightly puzzled Easterling. He readied his sword, waiting for the on slaught. Vaenosa's heart quelled as she saw her own death approaching. She struggled to over come her fear, she had seconds left....She raised her bow and shot.
The missle landed in the neck of the surprized Man, splurrting blood from his wound. Nay did not stop, he charged the man as a bull cow would an intruder into his pasture. He plowed his head straight on and knocked the man back at least three meters. Vaenosa could no longer hold on and she was tossed from Nay's back landing hard on the steaming earth.

She lay looking up at the sky. The sounds around her were deafening. The screams, the clashing of blades. Vaenosa closed her eyes, as a tear rolled down her tortured face. But she would not give up. Get up you ninny! You are fine! Get up and do not back down! If you die, then at least you did something in your life that was not selfish! Get up! She rolled onto her right side and staggered up into a sitting position. In her hand, white knuckled she still held her bow. She reached up over her shoulder and found her quiver still there, but only two arrows remained.

She stood and looked around in horror. Many lay wounded , she could not tell from which side. Then a scream of a woman, brought her to her senses again. She saw atop the hill a woman crumpled on the ground and a figure wrestling with a Man atop him. Her mind was set. She looked for her blade, but to no avail. So she loaded her bow and dragging her leg she set off for the hill.

She passed bloodied bodies on the ground, but she kept her eyes solely on the Man ontop of the struggling lad. As she reached the bottom of the hill her leg gave out and she fell to the yellowing grass. She screamed her frustration and pain. She pulled herself up so she was kneeling and lifted her bow. She steadied her hand and let it fly. It sunk only into the leg of the attacker and did nothing to stop his attack. Vaenosa cried as she pulled out her last arrow. Please, let this hit it's mark! she prayed as tears streamed down her face. The world around her seemed to stop as she pulled back her bow string.

Two things happened at the exact same moment. She let her arrow fly and she felt a searing pain hit her in the back. She screamed out in pain as she began to slip from consciousness. She raised her head to see if her arrow hit, but she was sinking slowly to the ground. Where is Nay I wonder? Where has he gotten himself to? Was all she could think as she slumped to the ground, stuck from behind with a spear from one of the many fallen Easterlings.

She lay staring at the blood soaked ground. She tried to get up but could not. Her vision blackened.....She passed out.

[Nogrod]

Sythric hadn’t time to think about Brand, as he made it upwards, and was seeing Vaenosa up the hill, slipping to the ground, rising up, and then shooting her bow – being followed by an easterling, just going for the kill. He spurred Thydrë to make the best of it.

Just as the easterling was about to give his killing-blow to Vaenosa, he glanced back – hearing someone approaching him with speed. He had no time to curse his lord. Raedwald’s lance pierced him with such a vigour, as to send him flying from his saddle. With a quick yank, Sythric got the lance free of the man. So this is why he loved this spear! I’m beginning to get it! The man fell over Vaenosa, but Sythric had no time to check on her now. There was too much going on at the top of the hill – and he started feeling dizzy. The pain on his side started being unbearable. He didn’t know, how much blood he had lost, but clearly, things started getting foggy around him, the voices softened... Raedwald! “Just remember, that this message to the King... is the single most important thing on your journey”. Brand!! “It’s more important than the lives of any one of those youngsters, and remember also this...” Meghan!, Dorran! “your being alive is the best insurance we have for the message reaching it’s destination.“ Vaenosa! ”Don’t try to be a hero of your conscience, be the hero of your people.” The words of old Hugebryth were dimmed down, confused with his own nightmarish visions... He approached the top of the hill, barely conscious.

[Farael]

There had been one Easterling and then another. Osmod had avoided their attacks but had not managed to land a blow. He had already seen Rædwald go down and Meghan taken prisoner. He knew others had been wounded yet it was not time to stop just now. Osmod had barely managed to parry a stroke by an Easterling rider when a blood chilling scream was heard from the nearby hill. The few riders left wheeled around and dispersed, leaving the field littered with the bodies of their fallen as well as some of the Rohirrim.

Osmod jumped off his horse and kneeled by the side of a fallen woman. It was Vaenosa and she seemed to be out cold. Her hand was still grasping her bow and the dead body of a man was lying nearby. Osmod looked for any cuts or slashes and found none, so he carefully turned the woman face up and was relieved to see she was still breathing. A dark bruise was forming on her forehead so he assumed she had been knocked out, perhaps the Easterling meant to take her as they had taken Meghan.

Meghan… Osmod looked up the hill and saw that the fighting was not over. Yet he was too far to help them and there were people who needed to be looked after. Cursing himself for not being able to do more, he decided to help those he could rather than waste his time, and possibly his life, in a lost cause. As far as he was concerned, those up the hill were by themselves. He prayed the gods would be on their side as well.

[Arry]

‘Help me up!’ Brand’s voice came weakly at first and then stronger as his resolve grew. He forced his mind away from the pain in his shoulder, focusing on the present need . . . to drive away the foe and to bring Meghan safely back to the group. With an effort and a steadying grip on the rock he’d lain against, he got to his feet.

‘Stop your crying, Athwen. Bring Lady near and hold her steady.’

He’d pulled the Easterling’s blade from his shoulder. It had bled profusely, but now seemed down to a trickle. He could barely move the left arm, though, so intense was the pain from the wound. Holding on to Lady’s mane, Brand pulled himself up with his right arm until he was once again astride her. He could not help but hit his left shoulder against the horse and saddle as he clambered clumsily up. And it took all his effort not to cry out as the pain seared through him.

He asked for his cudgel, and someone, he was not sure who, handed it up to him. He grasped it tightly in his right fist and with his knees and voice urged Lady up the hill.

At the top he saw Sythric, barely sitting on his mount and there against a tree was Meghan with Dorran crouched by her. One Easterling lay dead a little ways away and one Easterling hovered over Meghan and Dorran, his scimitar raised.

With a loud cry, he raised his cudgel and bore down on the Lord of the Easterlings . . .

[Naria]

It was nearing nightfall where it was not so dark as to not be able to see ones surroundings, but not enough light to be able to see detail like one would during the bright light of day. Pup had come bounding up behind Starlight and gave a happy bark and Incana looked down with a smile; almost as though nothing at all would interfere with the rest of their journey. As it would turn out she would be terribly wrong about this thought.

Arrows, so many arrows! What is going on she thought. We must run....run as fast as our mounts can take us! Just then she felt Starlight's hind end buckle under her. The horse didn't fall, but she had a very hard time regaining her footing in the wet soil. Incana quickly looked to her right then her left. She saw them. They were ugly, horrid creatures with a relentless pursuit on the group that had become her only family out on the plains. Amidst the confusion, Starlight panicked and reared; Incana was caught off guard and fell to the ground. She saw her horse run into some nearby trees with Pup close behind. Incana, although quite winded, jumped to her feet and retrieved her long knife out of her pouch that she always had hanging from her waist.

Incana backed up, one foot then another her head whirling and her stomach tight with anxiety. One foot then another, until her back hit something which she thought to be a tree. It startled her and she turned around to look an Easterling right in the eyes. He immediately grabbed her and turned her back around to face the carnage once again. He had a choke hold on her neck and a knife in her side. "Move....my pretty," He said with a raspy gurgling sound in his voice. He didn't have to ask again, Incana put one foot infront of the other and the two of them started towards the hill and towards his leader. They were walking past Leod when she found her feet had involuntarily stopped moving. She glanced his way with a tear soaked face and a begging in her eyes for him to help her. Incana only had enough time to see Leod nod before she felt the knife break the skin at her side.

"What are you doing? Keep moving you insolent woman! My master will be very pleased indeed with this prize," He said with a snicker. Incana winced with the pain and once again did as she was told. The Easterling had reached the hill with Incana when she suddenly heard a thwack! The man that was holding her captive released his grip and fell to the ground behind her. Incana wheeled around and saw Leod holding a thick, solid piece of wood. She gave the Easterling a good kick to make sure that he wasn't getting up, for Leod had just rendered the man unconscious, but she didn't want to wait around to find out how long this would last.

Incana peerd down to the side that the Easterling's knife had pierced. She looked back up at Leod, "It's not that bad, only a flesh wound." Putting everything else aside, even her feelings, she grabbed Leod's hand and said, "We have to go and help the ones that have fallen, for we are the only ones that can do so now."

[Arry]

Brand was barely able to keep astride Lady as she made for the Easterling leader. His reserve of energy was nearly tapped out as he brandished his club at Calimehtar. As he leaned to his right to swing the heavy cudgel, he lost his balance and fell, tumbling forward after his club.

He managed to hit the Easterling in the small of the back, a glancing blow, though it would still most likely leave a good sized bruise and be fairly painful for a while. His body, on the other hand, slammed against Calimehtar's left shoulder as he fell and landed in an crumpled heap near Dorran.

Brand's last thought as he hit the ground was that now the Easterling would have three to kill instead of two . . .

[Undómë]

The force of the Easterling’s blow had driven her against a tree. Meghan had not lost consciousness with the impact, but every bone in her back seemed to ache with an agonizing intensity as she tried to move. Dorran was huddled near her, covered in spatter of blood. She hoped it was that of the Easterling he had killed, the one who’d put his knife so cruelly to her throat and cheek.

She’d seen Brand charge the Easterling leader that threatened her and Dorran with his scimitar. But he looked weak even from a distance. His face was pale and slick with sweat from the effort to make the charge. He’d managed to hit the Easterling in the back and had knocked the man a little off balance as he fell from Lady.

One of the knitting needles with which she’d attacked the other Easterling was still grasped in her hand. She lurched up to her knees as Calimehtar twisted to the side from the force of Brand’s blow. With a lunge she drove the thick, sharp needle deep into the side of the Easterlings’ left leg just above and to the side of the kneecap. It broke off just as it hit the kneecap, lodging firmly between the muscle and the bony cap. With a gasp of pain she threw herself down quickly on her back, close to the looming figure. Drawing up her knees she kicked out at his legs, aiming for the knee she’d just wounded, pushing him backward.

Meghan did not wait to see him fall. ‘Use your sling, Dorran, she said, handing him a few of the small rocks on the ground. I’m getting Lady and we’re all getting out of here . . .