The Swords of Power: Based on Fred Saberhagen's Swords

[The GrandMage]

Gregor Mendal

He heard thge thunder of hooves, and soldiers surrounded him as they moved around the town. They drew their weapons, and yelled at him for a few minutes. Once they were sure he was with the Red Temple, and was only 'moving through', they had a few men roughly escort him out as they began attacking the town. Muttering about all the bother this trip was giving him, he stretched.

Turning around, he saw a glowing person moving throught the air. It was the God Mercury, who, unknown to the man, was collecting the Swords of power. As Gregor stared at the God going towards the town in the middle of all the trouble, they messenger of the Gods noted him, and decided to deal with him after he was done with his current job.

 

[chewbacca71]

Re: Roddy

On the way to the forrest, Roddy passed a man waiting patiently for Master Delban. Roddy could see that the man had a sword, similar to his own. He wondered if the man had any idea of what he had in his hands. He turned to the man, his walk into the forrest temporarily forgotten. "Hello stranger. That is quite the sword that you have there. It is very similar to mine, look at how close in appearance they are. So have you come here for Master Delban to appraise its value for it. I am sure it is worth a lot of money, but the intrinsic value of that weapon is priceless. May I take a look at it? "

Roddy looks at the stranger for a few minutes. The man does not move or say anything. It is almost as if he is in the thrall of his sword. Roddy passed his hands before the mans eyes and got no response. Shrugging his shoulders, Roddy decides that it is time to go back to his wagon and admire his new addition.

 

[Lady_Siren]

She ducked as arrows flew overhead and glared for a moment at the elder. He wouldn't speak any more of it. What kind of gem would be this much? She followed Garret and had to admire his creativity. She reached for her sword but found her sheathe empty. "Damnit!" she cursed loudly. Why now of all times did the damn thing have to disappear. Hopefully it would reapear soon. Until then... she ran to one of the fallen villagers and grabbed his sword. She refused to go down without a fight.

 

[poohlive]

As the last of the huge fire was put out, Garret looked over his shoulder sharply. Something was banging hard against the outer wall. He cringed, watching as the wood bent at an ugly angle, and then started to splinter.
He ran towards it, putting his whole weight behind the wall, but it did little aide the defence. A few more had gathered a few pieces of wood, and were trying to bolt them up alongside the foreign gate.
Seeing as that was mostly taken care of, he ran over to the catapault, which was nearly finished. Just a few more nails into the side, and it was done.
Over to the side was a huge piece of wood which served excellent as a lever. With that in place, he helped a small rock fixeted on the end of the board.
"Look out," he called, unsure exactly what would happen. He had never actually built one of these before. But the design seemed simple enough. If only it would work.
Bending the pole down as far as he could go, he released it.

 

[Firesprite]

Kyleen managed to ignore the furor outside for long enough to drink down her ale. Sighing with satisfaction she stepped out of the Golden Bee, hand on sword to see what was happening.

She was just in time to see Garret release the catapult. With a huge crash the heavy stone slammed into the wall. He'd forgotten to move the catapult back far enough for the stone to clear the wall and fall over the other side. The walls, already weak and weakned further by the pummelling on the otherside gave way at the impact of the stone.
Kyleen quickly moved to Garrets side, the other woman nearby ready to defend the town from the hoards with the strength of their swords.

 

[chewbacca71]

Roddy

Roddy has almost finished packing up his wagon, when Master Delban comes running towards him. "Roddy, I need your help. I just received a message from a homing pigeon that my home village is under attack. They are only a half days ride away. This message was sent out on the day of the first attack, and my brother says the attackers were coming back. I know you are good with a sword, and I can use the help. Will you please come with me?"

Roddy looked over at Master Delban. "We have always had good dealings in the past. I am not sure what good one more sword will do, but I will go with you. Why dont we close up my wagon and take yours. The town may need your weapons. I will ask the mayor to watch my possessions while we are gone. "

A few minutes later, Delban and Roddy are on the way to the village. Master Delban says they are only a few minutes away from the village and Roddy can see the tracks of many horses and supply wagons. He also sees some other tracks that he dismisses at this point. Delban and Roddy sneak up to the tree line and see that the village is surrounded by a lot of men, way more than the village will be able to fight. Roddy thinks of what to do. Then he has an idea. He goes back to the wagon and unhitches a horse. He follows the other tracks that he had found. He knows that if the village can hold out for a little while, he will be able to help.

 

[Lady_Siren]

Nikki cringed as the wall tumbled under the stones impact. That definitly wasn't good. Gripping her sword tightly she took a deep breath calming herself for the battle ahead that may be her last.

 

[poohlive]

"This.... this.... this is not entirely a bad thing," he said, trying to save his own ass. Damn it all if it wouldn't work perfectly. He took a whole 40 seconds to fix it, and it backfired?
Genius, pure genius.
Garret cut the sarcasm, unsheathing his sword. At this point, at least there was only one way the bad guys could come in, and it was pretty restricted at that. They could just slaughter the bunch when they try to force themselves in.
Motioning for the people behind him, he told them to put another boulder on. That way, if things got too heavey, they could just throw that at them again.
Why did this always have to happen to him?

 

[chewbacca71]

Roddy

Roddy follows the tracks to a large cave near a stream. He sneaks up to the entrance and is silent so he can hear better. He can hear the breathing of a large landwalker. He was pretty sure that was what had made the prints, but he had to confirm it. He snuck into the cave and got to the side of the dragon. He drew the sword and he was pulled towards the dragon. He made a large cut on its right flank and also sheared off one of its nostrils.

The extreme pain, woke in up and the dragon quickly regained its feet. Roddy ran out of the cave, making plenty of noise. He quickly mounted the horse and started galloping back towards the village. The dragon, seeing the creature that had caused it pain, ran after the man and his horse. The dragon followed them , disregarding its own safety. Roddy approaches the village and the draon keeps coming on. Roddy rides his horse towards the army that is encircling the town. He rides by and tries to hide his horse and himself in among the men. The dragon, senses at a high peak, follow the man, trampling men and horses in its path . The remaining men and horses are strickin in panic, trying to escape the rampaging dragon.

 

[The GrandMage]

Gregor Mendal

The dragon drew the attention of the men he was fighting away, but not his own. Farslayer cut through flesh, welcoming blood to the light of day. A few soldiers had decided to take his horse, and the woman, and beat or kill him.

To be perfectly honest, he didn't care which it was. Men turned as orders were screamed. A dragon in the middle of an army was enough to make one Red Temple guard unimportant.

He made quick work of the few men that had been left to take him, and bent over, breathing deep. He had cuts and scrapes all over his body. He stood up, angry. He scanned the soldiers, seeing a man in armor on the back of a warbeast. The great white and black feline growling as he ordered the attack. Gregor started to spin, his feet hitting the groun as he turned, arms outstretched, the sword glinting off the metal. "For thy heart, for thy heart, who hast wronged me!"

"For Lord Bawn!" The soldiers cried, throwing themselves either at the village, or preparing to attack the dragon. Above the clamor, a great howl distracted the attention of all. It was loud, peircing, raising itself above the sounds of battle. Almost as soon as it had begun, it was over.

A cry broke the stunned silence as the armored Lord slid from the back of the powerful creatur he rode, a meter of metal slicing through his heart. At the end was a plain black handle with a few rings. Gregor stared, his arms stretched out, his hands open, grinning evilly to himself.

He took the weapons of one of his fallen attackers, and moved to regain his weapon before it was too late.

 

[chewbacca71]

Roddy

Roddy looked back and watched as some of the men were foolish enough to try and attack the dragon in their midst. This allowed Roddy to reach the wall surrounding the village. If you could call a collection of weed chocked field stone a wall. He noticed a gap in the wall and went directly to it. He noticed that some of the defenders were fighting hard in this area. Roddy came up behind a few of the attackers and peered in satisfaction as his god enhanced sword went into the flesh of the men, just as easy as it went into the flesh of the dragons. He was able to take down the four attackers closest to the town before the others noticed. The five remaining men turned to go after Roddy. Swinging his sword in a desperate defense, Roddy hoped the defenders would use this chance to take out these attackers.

 

[poohlive]

"Now, throw it now!!!!"
Garret turned, blocking another blow from one of the attackers, bending down to his knees at the full force of this man. He winced, painfully, as he felt something jab against his knee. The fire boiled up, and he turned careuflly.
Some of the women had loaded up the ball once more, and were now ready to launch the catapault. This time it wasn't a weapon though, it was a defense. The large hole in the wall was the only entrance or exit in the entire compound, and now the rest of the army was using it to their will.
Although, if Garret didn't know any better, he could have sworn that they looked like they were running away from something rather than in an attack.
As more still streamed in, he could finally see what was causing all the ruckus. A huge beast was outside, killing all it could. His eyes grew wide.
Now, under a man's sword, fighting for his life, his knee throbbing in pain, he gave the order for the boulder.
It was thrown, and stuck itself right inside the large gaping hole in the gate. It had knocked a few soldiers off of their feet for their trouble.
Breaking the bond between his sword, and his enemies, he used his lower stance to strike true through the warrior. A face of pain and mortality emerged where once only rage had been. Garret closed his eyes, standing. As he did, he yanked the sword from the carcass still falling to the ground.
Blood spilled forth from flesh.
His own leg felt warm, he glanced down to see blood trailing down his pants. Garret cursed silently, wiping his sword clean and awaiting the next attacker though.
There were none though.
In fact, there wasn't anyone left. All of the rest of the villagers were now dead or dying, even the elder looked impaled on a sword. The only people left standing were himself, a few elder women and children, and of course Kyleen and Nikki.
Then he saw the rest, the few soldiers who were still alive were running back towards one of the huts, each going into a seperate house. If he didn't know any better, he could have sworn they were looking for something.
Perhaps the same thing that the elder had wanted to keep secretive. He was going to go after them, when movement caught his eye.
Oh, had he been mistaken, there was one person left. He stood there, beside the entrance. His vision blurred for a second, and then focused perfectly on the man. The first thing that caught his eye was the impressive sword in his hand.
Impressive or not, glamour could never replace skill.
His sword to his side, he walked towards the man. This one would die before the others.

 

[Firesprite]

Kyleen, panting with exertion, wiped both her sword blades on the clothing of her last foe. She had fought with both swords during the brief struggle, and was pleased to come away with very little damage. Looks like she'd only come away with one scar this time.

Kyleen looked up as Garret began moving purposly towards the last man standing, determination in his stride. The man appeared not to notice his advance yet, but Kyleen had seen him fighting his way in from the other side of the wall, killing just as many, if not more invaders than either she, the woman she fought beside or Garret. Admitedly it wasn't fighting fair to kill from behind, but they could take all the help they could get.

The man had spotted Garret and obviously seen the look in his eye. "Stop!" she called to them. Finding herself ignored, she reached into her boot, pulled out her daggar and threw it so it landed point down between the too antagonists, surprising them both. "Stop!" she called again, running to join them.

 

[The GrandMage]

Gregor Mendal

He came to a halt near the body. Soldiers were everywhere, lost in the panic outside the gates. He was still a few feet away from where the hilt was raised into the sky, but it was clear. He sgrinned to himself, and started running, his hand outreached.

Suddenly, a hand curled around the hilt, pulling it free. Mercury hovered above the carnage, a smile on hios face. He glowed with the energy of Gods, a perfection to himself. He slid the sword home in one of the scabbards, and flicked a coin at the stunned Red Temple Guard.

Laughing merrilly to himself, he floated high over the city, and buzzed off in the opposite direction of the town. He had to see someone first before returning to collect the others. It would only take a moment.

Gregor caught the gold coin, and opened his fist, looking at it. Mercury's face grinned up at him. Growling with rage, he clenched his fist, and grabbed up one of the fallen Lord's weapons. The soldiers were turning the tides on the landwalker, as high as their casualties were. He let the coin slide into his empty sheath as he swore revenge on the God who had tricked him.

 

[The GrandMage]

Throm Almost

The two stared each other down. He hand to watch this one, they held Doomgiver. He grinned, and moved around. The great table like sheath on his back held three hilt, spinning around. reachiing back, his hands closed around two black hilts. One without mark, the other holding a simple open hand. Pulling free Woundhealer, he stabbed himself with it, and pulled Soulcutter out partways.

With Woundhealer numbing the effect, he reached up and drew a regular sword which lay in Coinspinners spot. He moved forward, His blade striking forth as his opponent dropped the sword. He slammed Soulcutter back in, and fell to his knees. He set down the regular sword, and withdrew Woundhealer, returning it, and then the normal sword to it's sheath. He grabbed Dommgiver, and slid it in the empty place for it. He felt tired, the effects of holding two swords, especially ones that negated each other weakening him considerably.