A longship floats in the sea, lonesome but steady in its path.
Flowers and winter wheat are piled onto it. Some of the flowers fall off and float in a trail behind it.
"Weep not, he rests with Wodun and Tiwaz in their golden halls."
A sea raider chief takes his nasal helm off, his fists clutching it tightly.
"The warpath is over, we have raided, looted and pillaged, now brothers we must disband back to nordland."
The gathered kinsmen stand and watch as the battanian village burns.
Prisoners are held at spearpoint, their arms tied behind their back.
The sea raider chief gives a nod at a nearby longbowman, he draws his bow back, loosing a flaming arrow at the ship, which has been doused in oil. causing it to burst into flames.
The warband gathers around, shuttling the remaining prisoners onto the beach.
"Our time is this land is done."
Yikes.. Was hoping to mooch off of these guys for a while.
"Jacos, step forward"
Oh? Me?
The tall boy steps forward, his blood stained helmet glistening under the sunlight of mid-day.
The sea raider chief holds up a mail shirt, rusted and links missing.
"As a parting gift, have this. The Thegn would have wanted you to have it."
[Sea Raider Warrior T3--> Sea Raider Chief T4]
Tier 4 that quick? My skills are still atrocious though. I imagine a bandit tier 4 is nothing compared to a real tier 4..
[Two Handed 55]
Jacos takes the mail shirt and nods, removing his helmet and slipping it onto his body, it does not fit him well, short at the sleeves and tugging at his neck slightly, still it is 100 times more protection than a woolen coat.
"It was fun brothers, but my wife will be missing me and the harvest is coming"
A sea raider with a simple shield and spear stands up, marching to the boat along with a few others.
"Aye, it is nigh time to return home, we are rich beyond our dreams now"
More join him, filling the boats with a few sea raider chiefs.
8 men remain.
"I have no home but the warband- my village in nordland is gone."
A younger sea raider shuffles his boots on the muddy ground, eyeing a prisoner warily as they are loaded on the ship.
"I want to stay and find some knifework on the mainland."
The sea raider chief speaks lowly as he slips his bearded axe into his belt- he continue
"The northern empire hires out our kin as mercenaries, good pay, good battles, But it is a journey's way from here."
He looks at you.
[Enlist in Sea Raider Chief Tier 4' party?}
Shit, do I have a choice? I don't have anything or anyone to return too.
"I will join you."
Well that seals the deal then
[Enlisted in Sea Raider Chiefs Party: 8]
"HAHA! It will be good to have a seasoned warrior with me then, we will take a few of these prisoners as slaves while we journey, it should lessen the burden"
He points to 2 battanian men, beaten and cut up.
[Prisoners: 2 Battanian Peasant, Prisoner Limit: 9]
"We need to start moving before days end."
The chief picks the prisoners up by a long rope and hands them off to a sea raider.
"Watch them."
The sea raider perks up and nods, his woolen coat shifting as he glares at the peasants,.
The horizons shift as the small party walk into the woods but dozens of miles away blood is still on the air.
Vlandian cavalrymen trot through a destroyed village.
"Sergeant. This- this is terrible. All the women are gone, the men are dead!"
The small farming village has nothing left but coughing children and bleating goats. The remnants of a sea raider attack.
"Damnable Nord's! I will ride out tomorrow and tell of this to Baron Ingalther! The Nord's must be attacked as penance for this vile show of filthy pagan aggression!"
The gathered Vlandian host cry out for war, seeing their home village destroyed and their wives whisked away into servitude.
"Cry now, but lament the torture you shall inflict on those sea dogs once they are within our grasp!"
100s of miles away Jacos sneezes.
Hrm. Someone is talking about me huh?
"Pipe it down, looters, I can smell the dogs from here."
Phew- just looters.
The chief unstraps his shield from his back and draws up his axe.
"Lets kill them quickly and move on."
Sea raiders converge on the scavenger camp, a few of them are strewn out on the ground while some rest on ragged cloths on the ground.
"They are sleeping, lets wake them!"
The sea raiders charge in, whooping and hollering.
Jacos makes swift work of a looter who reaches for his knife, the axe shattering his ribs.
The other sea raiders quickly dispatch the looters.
"There is nothing of value, lets move on we still have some light left."
"Wait! Prisoners."
The young raider from before kicks aside some brush where 2 people are bound.
Damn, were already at our limit with the battanians.
The raider chuckles.
"Women- entertainment for tonight!"
He drags them out, 2 young girls, brown hair- twins.
They cant be 15..
"We are warriors not savages."
Jacos intercepts the young raider, standing over him like an Olympian.
"Yes sir! I was playing of course Chief!"
Sure you were, bastard.
The girls are tossed with the other prisoners, using their current bindings to link into the prisoner train.
"Just kill us and be over with it!"
One manages to pipe up, the older of the 2, tears streaming down her face as her binds are tightened.
"No lass, you will bring a pretty penny at the ransom broker."
The sea raider chief smirks as their expressions go pale.
This is so fucked up.. But this is how it is I guess..
Later into the night camp has been set, a fire crackles as a few small tents are pitched up.
"We are weeks march out from the lands of the Calradians still. Rest easy- nothing is in our path but open plain."
The chief lays back and closes his eyes and drifts off, the prisoners are strapped into a circle around a tree. 3 raiders posted watching them in shifts.
Jacos sits at the fire.
I don't know how to continue.. Do I get as much money as I can and go hide in a corner of the world in a cabin, or do I try to live an exciting life. If I die will I just wake up back in my old world? What if this is some long paranoid dream? I need to sleep.
Jacos lays back his eyes closing, his armor dries by the fire, the blood wiped from it with an old battanian tartan shirt he looted.
"Gyahh get off me!"
What!
Jacos flips up, after some hours of sleep the fire has gone out. A sea raider lays dead next to him, a knife driven in his throat.
A battanian kneels over a fellow raider with a seax, the struggle that ensues is violent and fast, the battanian is stronger and ferocious, the raider begs for his life while Jacos gathers his weapons but its too late, the seax dips slowly into his kinsmen's throat, his breath becoming short.
"NO!"
The sea raider chief launches a throwing axe at the peasant, he turns and takes it straight on the shoulder, crying out in pain as it embeds itself in his shoulder.
The other peasants stir, they have already slit everyone else's throat- the young ladies seemed to have aided them in the escapade, one finishes off a sea raider warrior with his own short sword
2 battanians swarm the chief, taking him to the ground and driving knives into the gaps of his helmet, his eyes gouged and brain mushed in moments. Jacos stands with his large axe, back to the fire so he can see any who approach from the dark camp.
"Bastards! Come and finish this!"
The battanians circle him, each flanking either side of him, they seem less eager to charge at an armed man, especially one who wields an intimidating weapon.
"We will avenge our mothers and daughters, sea dog!"
They charge in unison but Jacos overcomes them, kicking one square in the gut and bringing his axe down on him, a knife pushes into his mail but causes no real damage. He turns and headbutts the battanian savage with his helmet, cracking his nose and spurting his face with blood.
"Die."
The axe is brought down, hewing the man from shoulder to torso.
The young ladies square off.
"I don't kill children, runoff to wherever you came from!"
The girls lose all fight and drop their weapons, running as their lives depend on it.
Jacos sighs and drops to his knees. his whole party is slain around him, blood pooling together and hushed breaths and the stench of death seeping into his lungs.
Fuck. What now.
[Party Disbanded]
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Author: Any ideas you want implemented or would like to share? I write for fun and don't claim to be good at all so criticism is open always regarding prose, story direction etc. just leave it on this segment, thanks.
Shorter chapter I know...