Knights, Savages and other poor life choices

As their airship hastened through the sky, Harrigan could see the landscape outside from behind one of the more larger windows of the ship. Not that he had a moment to take in anything, as the ship flew fast enough to barely pinpoint and focus on a single object. And maybe even if Harrigan could, then he still wouldn't. As his thoughts were somewhere else. But what was it, what was the enigma that Harrigan could possibly be pondering on. Was it something devious, a horrid plan to forebode nothing but ill and misfortune for the poor people of Fiore. Or was it something far more complex, the foundations of a plan that yet had to be revealed. One that could easily envelope they entirety of Kingdom itself.
Honestly it was actually neither. Not devious nor something complex. Not even a plan. No, what was on Harrigans mind was nothing more then the mundanity of reminiscing of the recent days. After all al lot had happened over the timespan of a month.

It had all started when after quite some time Harrigan Crawford emerged from the unknown, bringing with him his newest asset. His will incarnate as he would often refer to her. Rosetta, the machina creation that had taken on the form of a child. A vision of what he'd never managed to create himself, namely children. But as said before, the child was an asset. Created from the twisted mind of Harrigan who even saw his own offspring as possibility to further his own goals. Either way the creation of her, was the start an entire new chapter. And managed to set the gears of fate in motion, as the two of them. Along with a small band of loyal Savage Skull soldiers embarked on an entire new mission. To find new and strong assets for the guild. And most importantly for Harrigan itself.

Within in time he found them, some new and more then willing to join. Others less willing and had to be forced through other methods. He'd even picked up the trail of a rather familiar face, namely Indar Blackshield. A former pillar head that had vanished from the face of the earth. But even he rejoined his ranks once again, why Harrigan didn't really know. Honestly the man was quite the enigma, even to him. Maybe it was the faint sense of a place to belong that convinced the monster with the mask. Or maybe it was nothing at all, nothing then the motion to keep going with your life. Regardless of whatever path that would take.
Harrigan even met a girl, one that held much promise, or so it said. Nothing much was known about her except the fact that she was raised in an orphanage by nuns. Who had hidden her away, and somehow managed to keep any information about her away from prying eyes. To such an extent that it became rather questionable.

''Milord, we have arrived''

Breaking through his chain of thoughts was a stoic voice. Belonging to a man wearing a skull mask. Obviously a soldier from his guild. Who informed him about their imminent arrival at the River Village. Which was their next destination. Only this time, it was something else then a recruitment mission. This time is was to deal with an old enemy, one that had managed to evade their grasps for years. Namely Major George Raider, a highly valued officer from the Rune Knight army. That most recently had collapsed, forcing many of the remaining knights to take home at one of their outposts. For years Major Raider had been out of reach, as he was stationed at the heart of their organization. But now with the Knights mostly gone, he had no choice to return home where it all begun for him. The River Village. Which was about to become his grave as well. ''Very well, tell Rosetta to land the ship away from prying eyes. I'd rather not have the inhabitants notice our arrival.'' After all the River Village was a small village, a place where nothing much happened on a daily basis. Except the mundanity of life itself. So one could easily understand that the sight of a strange ship, landing in their midst was a cause for alarm.
The soldier nodded and replied with a ''very well sir'' before he wandered off. Leaving Harrigan once again with solitude of his own mind, just before the ship started to descent.

Rosetta stood calmly piloting the ship almost without a thought. In truth, she was on auto-pilot and thus so was the ship. She knew the directions and location. She knew how to fly the ship. However, she was not human. She had no need to focus all her attention on the sky. Her mind was powerful and was mechanical. She had set a protocol running in her mind 'pilot the ship safely to the river village' and so part of her mind was focusing on that. Another part of her mind was on the goal ahead. Information had been provided to her via one of the savage skull members. He possessed archive magic and had absorbed the information from multiple savage skull members and others to find out what he could about the targets in question. The target and the location. This information had been absorbed from the archive by Rosetta and was now being processed.

"Target name: George Raider. Alias Ruby Raider. Part of a group known as the Crystal Knights. Normally accompanied by Jennifer Cleric, alias Sapphire Cleric. George is known to use fire and heat magic, Jennifer water and cold. Together they can perform powerful lightning attacks. Threat level if both present: 82%." She paused as the thoughts flowed through her mind at high speed. "Intel suggests that Jennifer, along with the rest of the Crystal Knights, are on missions to reclaim other strongholds. Threat of George alone: 32%." Another pause as more information flowed through her mind. "Requip magic is used by all the knights. Each knight is known to use their requip to enhance their elemental attacks. It is rare they are alone or not in pairs so it is possible, and would be sensible, that they have kept some equipment hidden. If this assumption is correct threat level increases to 40%. Preparing subroutine. Subroutine prepared. Trigger: Non-fire or heat based armor being used."

It was at that point that one of the soldiers came up and spoke to her. Her head rotated a full 180 degrees to look at him. However, the knight had seen this trick used by Sinali and whilst it was freaky it wasn't all that surprising. It seemed a common trait among the female children of Savage Skull. "Master Harrigan has issued orders. We are to land discreetly so as not to be spotted." Rosetta nodded and her eyes glowed briefly before her head returned to normal and she twisted a few knobs and pressed a few buttons to send the ship off in a slightly different direction. The wind was currently blowing south, or towards down river. So they would approach from the north. Most people would focus on the south as it was the most likely direction an attack would come from. This would prevent someone being smelled out. However, it was unlikely that the members of the rune knights had werewolves or other scent-based members amongst their group. No reports showed anything like that.

"Inform the Master that I will land the ship to the north behind some hills in that area. I will skirt the village and any others nearby to reduce chance of detection. Inform Dorothy to hide the ship in a cloud bank." the man nodded, bowed and then headed out. Rosetta shook her head. Dorothy. What an appealing name for a dark guild member. Then again, it was highly appropriate for a weather mage. The story of the Witch of Zo had a woman carried away by a tornado and her name was Dorothy. Briefly, about two microseconds worth of time, Rosetta considered whether the name was real or an alias and if it was the latter then was it the story that inspired it? Human kind was fascinating and in order to better integrate and infiltrate she needed to learn as much as possible. However, minor detours of thought like this were rather short in time to her.

Her thoughts now returned to the task at hand, which was working out the best way to eliminate the rune knights in this town. The Ruby Raider was perhaps the easiest. He was a fire mage and so she would utilise the natural opposite in order to bring him down. This was of course water. It gave her a brief pause that a village on a river had produced such a well known and powerful fire mage. He was not on Ardere's level though so not all that impressive and a very low threat. He wouldn't have access to guild spells or the like. At most he would have access to rune knights and there only edge was in numbers. Numbers which she could easily thin. Heck, the garm she had at her command would likely be enough to bring this town to its knees before her.

She considered approaching by the river itself rather than by foot. This was something she could do quite easily, but not something Harrigan could do. He would likely want to observe her actions at least. It was in his best interest to see how his asset was doing after all. The ship landed behind a hill and then the cloud that had surrounded it condensed into forming a proper fog. There was a small gap for now near the exit to the ship. It would be closed behind them. She walked through the ship towards where Harrigan was waiting.

"Descent complete. Plan for eradicating targets complete." she stated calmly. "Assassination or Demolition protocol?"

Word Count: 916

A moment or two later the same soldier returned, informing him about the detailed landing plan. Which was sound, the northern hills would provide enough protection and was easily defendable if it came down to a firefight. But more importantly it was well out of sight, while still being in a decent walking distance from the village itself. ''Good'' replied Harrigan ''Now ready half of our men to head out, and make sure the other half set up a defensive parameter around the ship'' While some would probably say that all this was a bit to much. Considering that Rosetta was with them. But you'd never know, and Harrigan rather be safe then sorry when it came down to it. And besides an extra show of force would emphasize that he meant business this time.

As the ship finally descended the cargo hatch would slowly open and lower down. Creating a large gangplank for Harrigan and the soldier to head out. While in the meantime Rosseta also joined they fray. Naturally she had already had gone over many variables for this mission to succeed, from stealth and assassinations to a more direct gun blazing approach. Yet Harrigan had something different in mind, a bit of in-between. In fact, it was more of a test to know her accuracy and distinguish enemy and friendly units in the heat of battle. While also how she would take an opportunity to strike if the enemy was already engaged with someone else. After all Harrigan had to activate her sooner then he planned her to be, even infusing her with his own power in a time of dire need. Which naturally drained him off most of his magical capabilities.

''A bit of both'' replied Harrigan when Rosetta inquired him. Asking for her approach on the current situation. ''I want you to stay hidden, similar as you did when following me back in Talonia. While I and my squadron of Savages will engage the enemy first. Draw their attention so to speak'' Her face had a questioned look, slightly tilted to the left. Obviously it was only a subroutine she had implanted in herself, to mimic the authenticity of a child when not understanding something. While in fact she could perfectly understand Harrigan might be going with this. ''Then when we are fully engaged with the enemy I want you to attack them from behind. A surprise attack so to speak. Needless to say I want you to go big, hold nothing back. Eradicate the moment you strike'' He continued while placing his hand underneath her chin, slowly lifting it up. So that she would stare directly into Harrigan's smirking conceited face.
It was a risk he was about to take, one that normally Harrigan would do. But to fully test Rosetta's capabilities he had to put his own life on the line. Only then Harrigan could see how long her processing speed would take to deal with the enemy knights while going big so to speak. While also making sure Harrigan as well as the other soldier wouldn't succumb to her attack as well. Maybe she had to create new assessments, or maybe it was already installed.

The commanding soldier gave the sign to head out. First it was a small wave of soldier who would stand around the various hill tops. Obviously a look out, while others would find a more defensive position from which they could easily anticipate and take on the enemy. After Harrigans own squadron moved out, with two of the skull masked soldier in front. Harrigan behind it, and then six more behind him. And Rosetta, Rosetta would have to find her own way.

The plan that Harrigan had given was an interesting one. He essentially wanted himself and the other soldiers to be bait and lure the enemy out into a fire fight, which would likely be literal if they brought out the Ruby Raider straight off. When the fight was in full swing she was to strike and to eradicate the opponents entirely in one fell strike. She had a few techniques that could do such a thing. However, most of those techniques had the potential to damage allies. There was one that could essentially vaporize a large chunk of the town without harming people, but it took a while to set up. As Harrigan lifted her head she activated her HUD link with him thus establishing team speak. This connection would allow him to speak directly into her mind in an almost telepathic fashion and would allow her to keep track of him and his vital statistics. It was a useful ability, but it was limited in its effect. She had established it with two members that would remain with the ship and also two others that were with them. Well, it would only last until she got 250m away and whilst the town was close it was not that close. It would at least allow Harrigan to relay any extra orders he wanted to back to them for a short while. Its main use would be in the town when Harrigan could summon her whenever he was ready.

As they approached the river she leapt into the air and her body shimmered briefly before changing into that of a large pike, a fish native to this river, and one that frequently swam it. It was an ideal disguise as pike were known to congregate beneath the town's wooden struts to feed on the smaller fish there. It would put her in the ideal position to attack as soon as Harrigan ordered. She would leap out from below, smash through the boards of the town and vaporize every target she saw. That was her plan at least and this was relayed directly into Harrigan's mind, though not to the other savage skull members. There was no gurantee they were 100% loyal and so she would keep her plans secret.

The town grew closer and closer as she swam. The form felt strange to her. It was not like a cat which at least had all the usual limbs, plus one extra. No, it was entirely different. It would be a learning experience indeed. As she swam she observed other fish and tried to mimic their movements as best as she could in order to allay any suspicion those in the town might have of her. No-one would ever except the fish.

However, her mimicry was just one process going on in her head. Others were processing potential plans for how she would attack. Going big was easy for her. Without much effort she could easily wipe out this town. However, doing so without harming Harrigan or the other soldiers would be a lot more difficult. She would have to target effectively. In her mind Harrigan was a target that hitting would mean the mission had failed. The others would not fail it immediately, but would detract points. If successfully completing the mission was 100 points then killing one of the savage soldiers was a deduction of 10 points. Injuring was five points. Injuring Harrigan was 50 points and killing him was like a million points. There would be no purpose to her existence if he died. In fact, she wasn't 100% sure she'd fully converted all of his magic power yet. If he died she'd likely grow a lot weaker.

Eventually they arrived at the town and Rosetta swam beneath it waiting and listening with her mind for any orders from Harrigan. She had instructed the two soldiers to let her know if Harrigan was in danger. She could still erect a barrier from beneath here. Of course, she would be watching as well. As she waited she shifted back to her normal form and hid in the shadows, watching and waiting. Her hyper spectral camera eyes switched to x-ray vision. She could see the bone structures of all those within range and could easily identify Harrigan the soldiers.

As she waited she began charging up one of her spells. This was not her strongest as using that would almost guarantee killing one of the soldiers under Harrigan's command. No, but it was very powerful. She'd have to be careful when using it. Yet this was not all she did. A ball of silver metal rose up from her shoulder and split into numerous tiny insects. There were plenty of insects beneath her, which was why the fish congregated and so they would blend in nicely. They flew up through the boards of the town in various areas and began to scout out the town. Everything they saw Rosetta would see. Now she had four methods for keeping an eye on things: hyperspectral cameras, spy swarm, the soldiers(and Harrigan) and the HUD itself. It was time to wait and watch.

WOrd count: 860 words

Note charging up: MCC: Uranus

Spy swarm:

The member 'Harrigan' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

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'Monster Dice' :

A flying body, a beam of blue energy, an explosion. Those would be the last three things ever seen in direct relation to the Ruby Raider. Yet that would be in a minute or two, or to be precise one minute and two seconds. . There were actions that had to occur for that to happen. Actions involving the death of eight individuals and the tearing of someone's clothing. It doesn't exactly matter whose clothing because it was just clothing. So in advance know that it was a Savage Skull soldier's sleeve. Happy? Good. Now let's see how it all came together.

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The soldiers stepped forward into the fray ready to fight against the rune knights arrayed before them. Weapons drawn and magic flying from the peons whilst the 'kings' of this particular battle stood and watched, observing, assessing, grading. However, if given a grading all of the knights and soldiers would fail. The first casualty was a knight who suddenly was shredded into pieces by a flying piece of metal rotating at a very high speed. Now what exactly was that bit of metal and where had it come from? That was what the rune knights were wondering. Well, three of them anyway. The other four were pierced through the head by a beam of energy too swiftly for them to even have time to wonder about anything. This three was soon released to two as a skull made of energy devoured one of the men. Another fell to a drill as it pierced through his chest. Then the final one fell with two holes in his head. That was when suddenly the Ruby Raider took flight only to be blown apart by a beam of blue energy.

Now let's slow down a bit and show that from the perspective of the instigator. A young girl named Rosetta Crawford.
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As the soldiers moved in her gaze focused on them assessing the best opening to bring down the rune knights in the flashiest, most gruesome way possible. The assessment was quickly made and her hand began to spin rapidly before launching off as a spinning drill of death. It pierced through the ground shattering some of the wood and sliced one of the rune knight's to pieces, groin first, causing him to scream in agony and his blood to spray everywhere. Rosetta soon followed jumping up through the gap. In fact, it was almost as if she had come out at the same time as the drill. With insane agility and seemingly floating in midair fired a beam of energy from her wrist neatly piercing four rune knight's directly through the ear destroying their brains. She landed perfectly next to a forth, a cannon forming upon her shoulder which launched off a skull made of energy directly at him. What was perhaps the last thing he saw was his own skull biting down on him.

As this one was devoured her hand began to spin and another drill was launched off firing towards one of the remaining rune knights. Unfortunately, and much to her chagrin one of the savage skull soldiers moved in the way. If he'd moved another centimeter he would of been heavily sliced. However, luckily for him, but not for his jacket, only the sleeve was torn by the drill. The rune knight however was not so lucky as his chest caved in and was shredded to pieces by the drill.

The final man was about to turn and run when suddenly both his eyes were shot out by two tiny pieces of metal. Rosetta however did not wait. She ran straight past him and up to the Ruby Raider. As she got close suddenly a spear was in his hand and stabbing through Rosetta's stomach. "You took out my men. Now you burn." he said and the spear began to heat up, but Rosetta merely tilted her head and took a step forward pulling the spear deeper into her body until she was up right in front of the now rather scared knight. "What are you?"

"That's classified." With that she thrust her arm upwards in almost casual back hand blow sending the man soaring into the air. Her body melted slightly as she tore the spear from her body and sent threw it upwards at the man piercing through his chest sending him further into the air. That was when her other hand, the one she had not used for the entire battle was raised revealing five lacrima embedded into her arm each glowing a bright blue. "Goodbye." With that a 20ft radius beam of energy was launched at a rate  of 125m per second straight up at the man. As it hit him his body was vaporized and an explosion was thrown out in a 100m radius lightning up the sky and ripping apart the tops of builds. She turned to Harrigan. "Mission completed. Success rate: 98.253%." With this her eye briefly glanced over to the soldier whose sleeve she'd torn.


Word count: 838

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