Arrival

[Mor'os]

Parzan mumbled and groaned, as he forced himself up and out of bed. It had been a very pleasant dream that he had been in the midst of, and he was swept with disappointment and contempt at the innocent bystander of a servant who'd been set to rouse him early at his own orders. As sleep began to retreat, memory of what was to happen that day flooded back to him, and a new life sprung into him.

With glory and fame in mind, he jumped to his feet, dressing hurriedly. His fears that something might go wrong, that they would be unable to leave as soon as he had hoped for, that he would be stuck here for another day, proved to be wasted. The servants had done their work, and as he stepped out into the sunlight, just breaking the mist, the carriage and a set of pack animals ready to carry their luggage were already present. Servants zipped back and forth across the grounds, a mad dash to finalize and add on those final few details that had been missed earlier. All in all, it was an impressive effort and accomplishment on their part.

Relieved that this was ready, Parzan now only had to find his guests and alert them that it was time to leave. True, no meal had been served yet. But so eager was he that he concluded it would be acceptable for them to eat on the road as their journey began.

A passing servant was asked about the Princess, and no satisfactory answer was produced. Another one revealed that she had left her bed before she could be woken. Trusting better in his own abilities to locate lost persons, Parzan began to traverse the manor himself in search of her.

[The Empire]

Sure enough, he found her, or rather, she found him as she dropped from the roof, landing gracefully in a crouch a few steps in front of him.
She was dressed in the black garments she had worn the night they came from the stars but this time she wore no weapons.
She rose and nodded, indicating that she had understood his intentions at the same time as he opened his mouth to speak and entered the guards' quarters.

Within, the guards had dressed in their armours and packed up their gear ready to leave. One thing that parzan noticed was that the humming that had come from their backpacks the last time they wore that armour was absent and they had their helmets hanging from their shoulder guards in thin chains.
"Överste, det är dags för avfärd, genomför lastning, därefter uppsittning efter senare anvisningar. Värkställ."
"Ja ers höghet."
The colonel saluted Hanna then turned to his troops.
"Ni hörde hennes höghet, utgå!"
The guards started their armours and moved out, quicly and effortlessly loading the equipment they had. as they were already wearing most of their heavy gear, the strain on the pack animals weren't too big though the extra ammunition and the AT4's had to be split over several animals as one animal couldn't carry the combined weight of both those crates and if loaded with only one of them it would tip it over...
After twenty minutes they were done with theirs and aided with anything still not loaded.
Once everything was done, they waited to see how they would travel.
In the meantime, the princess had suited up in her own armour and strapped on her chainsword. in a final whim, she had decided to wear her mother's tiara too as she weren't going to have the helmet on anyway as long as the armour's hydraulics was shut off in free-flow mode. Dressed as such, she joined Parzan and waited to be led or shown to wherever she would be expected to travel. As she waited, her two tigers also appeared, purring and stroking themselves against her hands while making the pack animals nervous by their presence alone...

[Mor'os]

Parzan took a moment to compose himself after the shock of being ambushed so suddenly by the Princess. He recovered with surprising grace, and with the Princess located decided that the time to set out had finally come.

The Princess was led out of the gate and onto the road, where the very last things were being packed and prepared. He was also glad to see that the rest of the Imperials were there, and had taken the time to pack their own things. It would simplify the process greatly. As they walked, Parzan's heart sunk at the return of the tigers. He hated the beasts so, though they seemed to have not mauled him yet. Ignoring them, he led the way to the carriage where, if things went as he planned, he would ride with the Princess for most of the journey. A smiling servant complied to their approach, offering the two their seats.

[The Empire]

The other imperials and Nikolai mounted pack-carriages further back in the line.
The great white tigress Sasha had another idea though, and jumped up and sat down beside the driver in Parzan's and Hanna's personal carriage to keep an eye on her mistress as the whole mass of people, animals and carriages that made up Parzan's household got moving towards the capital districts.

[Mor'os]

The driver's eyes went wide as he saw the feline crawl up beside him. Like Parzan, and like most people in the entire country, he was not comfortable with being so near to several hundred pounds of muscle, teeth and claws. Shaking, he slowly turned his head around to face Parzan, cringing as he waited for a sudden movement of his provoked an attack. No attack came, and he succeeded in doing this. But it was for naught. All Parzan could give was the same vacant and fearfully bewildered expression, combined with motions of the hands and arms to the effect that he should just ignore it and get on with it. The driver's face was now running with tension induced sweat, and his breath was coming in short and worrying little gasps. But he soldiered on impressively enough, giving a curt little nod and doing as he was told. He gave a crack of the reigns, again cringing in anticipation of various sharp bits of tiger being put in parts of him that they shouldn't be, and was again dissapointed on the matter.

Down the road, without a single mauling, they clattered as the procession began to make its way out of town and into the awaiting north east. As per ceremony the townsfolk had gathered to see them off, and lined the road with the expression of one listening for the sake of being polite. When they were finally lost down the road, someone chanced the comment

"If all us a' lucky, he might neve' retu'n."

A murmur of consent, and they returned to their mundane but secure activities that they had been doing for years.

[Rozaria]

OCC: Just a thought, can anyone play in this Role-play or is it just Moro's and The Empire?

[Mor'os]

OOC: Just us I'm afraid as it stands, though thank you for asking first. Don't worry, there'll be a chance for everyone to RP with Mor'os soon enough 

[Rozaria]

OCC: Yay Fun!

[The Empire]

OOC: could we get all the irrelevant OOC-posts out of here please?

After some time, Sasha decided to relax a bit and so, she layed down on the bench, laying her large head in the driver's lap, purring, meowling and doing general cat-talk now and then in her sleep...
from a small bag attatched to her left thigh-plate, Hanna produced an ancient book that had been a gift from her mother, it's pages had long since grown yellow of age and the blueish cover was worn in spite of it's plastic wrapping though the printed title page was still recognizable, the painted picture in faded colours below the strange text depicted several dolphins waiving to the reader as they jumped out of the water. The title above read: So long! And thanks for all the fish!

[Mor'os]

Parzan allowed his eyes to drift over to what the Princess had produced, even if it might be considered a lapse in proper manners. He did not recognize the text or the language it was written in. Nor did he recognize the odd creatures that were shown in the illustrations. But curiousity didn't care for such technicalities.

Once it had been satisfied, he settled back in his chair and prepared him self for the long journey ahead, whiling away the time with day dreams of the fame and riches that awaited him in the Capital Disticts...


The forest had eyes.

They waited and watched, something which they had long since become accustomed too. So much so that they almost seemed to have glazed and grown dead from many an hour spent staring at a single point in space.

This is what the eyes saw.

After many hours and days seeing nothing, monotony causing them to grow dull, they finally saw movement. And quite a bit, almost overwhelming. Down the dirt road that they had watched for so long was coming a procession of horses and carriages, of people. The dull eyes suddenly glistened with new life and light. This is what they had waited for so long. There was bound to be goods and treasures in plentiful numbers on so many horses. That was what had held them their, allowed them to endure such monotony or so long.

The eyes took foot and fled back into the forest, were they related to their fellow eyes in the forest the good news, that their days of waiting were gone. All about, more dull eyes shiend with a new light, and began to move...

[The Empire]

The long hours on the trail soon boored the Imperial guardsmen who did their best to stave it off but tuning up in a song fitting to the scene. The song itself was ancient even before the first Imperials had arrived in the lexicon and by now it's orgins were long forgotten.

"Nu grönskar det i dalens famn
Nu doftar äng och lid
Kom med, kom med på vandringsfärd
I vårens glada tid
Var dag är som en gyllne skål
Till bredden fylld med vin
Så drick min vän, drick sol och doft
Ty dagen den är din

Så drick min vän, drick sol och doft
Ty dagen den är din

Långt bort från stadens gråa hus
Vi glatt vår kosa styr
Och följer vägens vita band
Mot ljusa äventyr
Med öppna ögon låt oss se
På livets rikedom
Som gror och sjuder överallt
Där våren går i blom

Som gror och sjuder överallt
Där våren går i blom

Nu grönskar det i dalens famn
Nu doftar äng och lid
Kom med, kom med på vandringsfärd
I vårens glada tid
Var dag är som en gyllne skål
Till bredden fylld med vin
Så drick min vän, drick sol och doft
Ty dagen den är din

Så drick min vän, drick sol och doft
Ty dagen den är din

Så drick min vän, drick sol och doft
Ty dagen den är din"

As the song ended, the caravan were coming up towards a part of the trail that by it's layout alone sent shivers up the spine of the colonel and the more experienced guardsmen. From both sides, two steep ridges were coming ever closer to the trail that started to go down into a ravine, half way up the slopes, the ridges was covered in tall, dense undergrowth and closer to the trail, the growth seemed to have been cut down by hand, leaving no cover for almost 50 yards on either side. It reeked of ambush and the Imperials quickly made sure their armours would start in a moment's notice and that all weapons would work as intended, no ammo belts twisted, no rounds out of place, sights at default, back-flow valves for the flamer ok, pilot light and ignition working.

[Mor'os]

"A' ya sure 'bout this?" asked the leader of the eyes in the forest, keen  not to have his new hope suddenly and cruely deflated.

"Yes yes yes!" replied the eyes in the forest in a rapid and almost hissing stream of syllables. " I saw 'em, saw plenty of 'em. All comin' down the road in a g'eat big ca'avan." They used their hands to illustrate this "g'eat big ca'avan" as it made its way down the road. The brush crashed and rustled as the eyes and its fellow eyes made their way through their dwelling in the forest, headed for the promised prize.

"Ya bette' be right o' it's ya head."

"I am right, I am!" insisted the eyes with a mixture of indignity and fright. Slightly miffed, they pushed the brush aside with a renewed vigor.

"Slow down the'! Won't do to chase 'em all 'way now."

"Sh!" the eyes in the forest spun around and hissed. "That's 'em ove' the'" they whispered. They extended a cautious finger and pointed across the very last barrier of brush to the road below them. As promised, there it was, trundling along in the early light of the morning. The eyes surged forward to sneak a better look at the prize.

"Well, I thinks it's 'bout time fo' a little fun..."

[The Empire]

Lieutenant Tanya was sitting in the carriage, watching one of the more handsome men in Parzan's household. The young man seemed to be in his late twenties and was looking absent-mindedly at the foliage further up the ravine's side when they both heard a rustle in the leaves above, she didn't manage to see what made it but apparently, the man she was watching had and shouted something that sounded like a warning even though she didn't understand the words. He never finished though, a loud twang disrupted the sound and a split second later, his shirt was quickly turning from white to red around the crossbow bolt that stuck out of his chest...
Her combat reflexes took a few milliseconds to adjust to the slightly different situation and several more arrows and bolts were fiered at the caravan. Her training kicked in about the same time as screams of pain and panic started to rise from the forward half of the caravan.
She turned her armour on by reflex and shouted as she jumped out of the carriage on the opposite side from where the arrows had came.
"ÖVERFALL FRÅN HÖGER!!!" (Ambush from right side)

Further up the front of the caravan, the princess abruptly handed Parzan her mother's tiara as she started her armour and pulled the helmet on, a soft hizz announcing that the hermetic seal worked.
"Håll den här." She said as she took her assault rifle and jumped off the carriage, her soft voice now transformed by the helmet's speakers, sounding as if she was speaking in a metal barrel.
All along the caravan's length, the other Imperail guards started their armours, grabbed their weapons and jumped off to the left.
Sasha and Nikolai had already dissapeared into the jungle on the left side, scared by the wooden missiles flying around.

[Mor'os]

For his part, Parzan was lost in the confusion of the moment. As the tiara was shoved into his hands, they clutched around and held it tight. He wasn't quite sure why he'd done it. It just seemed the proper thing to do. That, and it was generally comforting to have something to hold onto has the sounds of chaos and madness and flying arrows and metal landing in flesh.

He pressed back into his seat in an earnest but ipso facto doomed attempt to make himself small and out of the way, specifically out of the way of any errant crossbow bolt.

It occurred to him that having a tiger about might be useful at a time like this.

For his part, the driver was attempting to control the horses, who'd already been on edge as a result of the presence of the tigers.

Up the hill meanwhile the brigands from the forest, satisfied with their initial barrage and the impact and chaos it seemed to have spawned rose up from behind the bushes, all sorts of sharp and pointy and doubtlessly painful implements. With a yelp and a holler, they rushed down the hill, ready to stick anyone who resisted with a certain morbid pleasure.

[The Empire]

Seeing how the attackers broke cover, the Imperial guards opened up, the five machineguns roared, cutting bloody swathes through the brigands at the more or less point-blank range while the guardsmen not manning the machineguns, including the princess pushed their armours to the limit as they launched themselves through the caravan and counter-charged with an ear-shattering guttural roar, The princess's chainsword litterally starting to scream as the chain revved up.
The first brigand she faced looked quite surprised and failed to hit her completely as she slashed his chest and the screaming teeth ripped it open all the way to the spine, spraying her armour and the ground with blood and gore. Her next one was greated with a rifle-burst in the face, the princess using her shorter assult rifle with folded stock in one hand as a sidearm.
fifty feet back, a guardsman swatted aside a spear and thrust his bayonet into the guts of another brigand and fiering a short burst through him before striking the next one to come at him in the face with his rifle-but, dropping the mortally wounded bandit on the ground in the same fluid motion.
As combat closed, the machineguns fell silent and the gunners moved forward, slinging their MG's on their backs and drawing their sharpened entrenching tools as they started to make their way towards the fight.