<div class="floatleft">(https://elliquiy.com/elluiki/images/0/02/MelanSongsteel.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong>Melan Songsteel<br/><strong>Class:</strong>Paladin<br/><strong>Time:</strong>Coldeven, 11, 575 CY, late night - Blood Moon Festival<br/><strong>Location: </strong>Gnarley Forest, Bandit Fortress<br/><strong>Tagging:</strong>The Horned Society, Open<br/><strong>Content Warning: </strong>Battlefield aftermath (blood, bodies, etc), violence<br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/><hr/><br/>The silver disk of Luna shone down in the cold cloudless night bathing the area in an unearthly glow. The air was still save for a few men moving about, calling a few orders and getting to work under the direction of the sergeant under her command to gather the bodies in the fortress to burn. Left alone for the moment, Melan sat atop of barrel in the cool air with puffs of her breath lingering in the night. Her blade rests in its sheath again, freshly wiped down, and in her right hand rests the solid chunk of strange metal with a strange reddish tint on one side and the odd inverted 'V'. It was a keepsake, a good luck charm, from the mine in her home town. She'd gathered it one day hauling tools when one miner let her have a single swing of the pick, her first one ever, and even keep the weird looking chunk that had fallen from the wall. The first mined piece a person mined was always special. "Another battle done." She says quietly as she stared at the odd chunk and let her mind wander over the recent events while her thumb rubbed against the 'V'.<br/><br/>It was her first real command, not a permanent one, but a valuable test for her training to show the investment could make returns. It was supposed to be a simple job, take a small contingent of soldiers on her command to root out a particularly troublesome group of bandits to show a sign of good faith for an ongoing negotiation between the Furyonde and Greyhawk. She didn't know the specifics of what the diplomats were up to but it didn't matter; What mattered was the cleansing of the fortress once it had been found with the help of whatever local woodsmen or rangers she could convince to locate the place. It was supposed to be a simple task.<br/><br/>Her thumb traced along the indentations in the metal hunk in the chill of the air, sweat cooling and freezing on her forehead. Her left arm remained numb and her fingers barely moved although it didn't hurt at least. There would need to be a trip to a real healer done when she made it back to town and had her report written up to send. Her eyes moved over the center of the fort, looking over the story the battlefield had told from the desperate rush that had left few in the way of survivors and half her own men laying still on the cold blood soaked earth.<br/><br/>The gate was finally partway cranked open, the sight of it bringing a remembered burn to her arms. They'd not had much of a choice in their haste to cleanse the camp before midnight; She'd lifted the heavy palisade gate upwards in both hands just long enough for her men and herself to get in, sealing them inside until the dead was done. Arrows stuck into the back of the gate from where they'd streaked into it and against her lacquered armor, wooden slabs broken and shattered in places hanging from threads where they had deflected the arrows streaking towards her trying to halt the entrance of her soldiers.<br/><br/>The heavy boot prints on the dirt soon mixed with blood and bodies, the cooling corpses of the bandits that were closest laying on the ground. A heavy hammer drew her attention, laying next to a particularly large leather clad body missing an arm several feet away. He'd been a tough on, rushing in with both hands on the haft of the great weapon and swinging it wide against her heavy oak shield. The potentially head splitting blow had cracked and broken the thick barrier, a few splinters of it still in her hair, and removed her arm from being of any use for the rest of the battle. She could almost still feel the resonating hit in her limb pushing her backwards and the confusion of it not listening to her when she tried to shift it to her blade. The high overhead swing had cost him in return though, the crimson streaks across her armor and soaking through to her clothing was mostly his when she'd opted to disarm him more directly.<br/><br/>"A simple task." She muttered to herself again as the body she'd been staring at is moved to the pile and the severed arm tossed atop it like cordwood. They had found the place easily enough, she recalled, and everything had been going according to plan when the report of the mage inside wearing a particular horned helmet and mask had reached her ears. Plans had to be discarded in favor of quick action with the mention of runes being carved into walls and dirt, preparations for a blood moon sacrifice to draw demon servitors in; preparations had been done to bring enough into the realms to shift from attacking merchants to burning villages. The horned society wasn't supposed to even be down here, far south of their territory although with it looking like only one was an actual society member it was possible it was just to stir up trouble. She'd not get the chance to question them though.<br/><br/>A thick line of dirt streaked across the battlefield from the mass of bodies towards where the mage had been. A single foot standing upwards and a fragment of the broken helmet was all that remained not pulverized. In desperation the mage had pulled out a thick scroll and chanted, earth forming and binding into a massive creature that would have been more than enough to wipe out her entire contingent on its own. Well, if Melan wasn't what she was at least. The mage had directed it to crush her but the holy aura had halted the summoned creature's blows before they could get near, the protection of her god a constant companion against things not of this world. Stalling it had been difficult but it lasted just long enough for someone, she wasn't sure who, to get an arrow or a rock into the mage and disrupt the control. Like all who dabble with the dark forces out of their capabilities the creation crushed its former master before melding back into the earth and vanishing once again.<br/><br/>The rest of the fight had been a blur, blood and blade mixing as body after body fell to the ground with increasing desperation from the defenders after the loss of their leader. All that was left was to burn out any hint of demonic corruption in the place and... well there were letters to be written. A report to be sure but there were five that would be returning on their shields rather than their legs.<br/><br/>"The pyre is ready, ma'am. Shall we light it?"<br/><br/>The voice snapped her out of her preoccupation of the battle, a curt nod offered. "Yes, proceed. Have those not watching the blaze begin making camp outside the walls. We head back to the village in the morning." The hunk of metal is pocketed again as the sergeant gives a snappy salute and her men get back to their tasks. Closing her eyes for a moment the coolness of the air washed over her, sending a shiver down her spine. It was supposed to be a simple task and while the battle was glorious there were five who had to be remembered. It wasn't the worst though, she mused, to fall clearing out a demon worshiper and bring a bit of safety back to the roads certainly isn't a bad death as far as such things go. She had expected her heart to be heavier with the loss of the men in her first command, expected to feel more than a mild remorse at the loss of her companions, but instead it was a quiet contentment with having done a deed in the name of Heironeous flooding through her. It was a satisfaction at cleansing a bit of darkness for the land.<br/><br/>"May peace find you in the bosom of heaven." She said quietly, following it with a soft prayer for the fallen. They had gone to a better place and now it was up to her to see that at least their physical remains made it back to their families. They had been brave. They had fought. They had done away with evil. They would be remembered. Her eyes opened once more and she rose, staggering a bit and taking heavy steps out towards where camp was being pitched. There was still time to get a little more sword practice in with the arm she could still use.