Talrith Storm-Sword

I could only stand there helplessly, looking on as the fierce battle that raged before my eyes. Swords clashed, shields bashed, and men screamed as they hacked their way through the endless sea of enemies.
I could only stand there helplessly, looking on as row after row of dark catapults launched hundreds of flaming boulders into the sky, bombarding the field of battle with rock and fire.
I could only stand there helplessly, looking on as my fellow Crusaders fought and died. Giving lives and taking them with ease. And I could only watch.
The battle had been a trap. A retreating hoard of monsters had led a band of Matoirin Crusaders here, to the field of Tyh-Noyra, where an army of Ghouls, Goblins, Banshees, and other creatures of darkness awaited them. The Crusaders, realizing their dilemma to late, had no choice but to fight, though gravely outnumbered. And so I watched helplessly as the men bravely fought on, The moonlight glinting off the their silver armor and swords. I scanned the battle again, and it was then that I saw him! In the very middle of the fighting, stood a man, hewing down monsters left and right. Pride mixed with intense sorrow as I saw blood gushing from multiple wounds and staining his armor, but still he kept fighting. This was Kallryk Storm-Sword the man who had commanded the charge. It was he who had led the men to this slaughter, and I could see the sadness in his eyes as he realized what he had done. Some men called him a traitor, others called him a hero, I called him neither, to me, he was known simply as father.
The sound of footsteps echoed down the dark hallway towards me. I painfully tore my gaze from the painting to meet whoever it was. As he came into view, I recognized the face of my friend and Fellow Crusader Klorrin Wind-Lover, “Ah Talrith,” he said as he approached. “Your awake?”
“Can’t sleep, I replied.
“That’s good,” he replied, “for Captian Throthoc has just received a urgent letter and has called for a meeting, and you are required to attend. He turned without another word and together we walked toward the council room.

Talrith pushes the door open and enters the well lit meeting room where many crusaders are gathered already. Klorrin slips in behind him and shuts the door quietly before looking towards the front of the room where High Paladin Idhras is explaining the purpose of the meeting.
"The Deathkindred have slipped through the Eastern fortresses and are roving over the lands, looting and burning. The Tavorians have sent messengers to us asking for our aid in destroying the vermin!" He exclaims. "Are there any here who deem it a worthy cause to fight? I would not ask any to do what I myself would not, therefore I shall be leading one of our hunting parties."
Many of the crusaders step forward and stand before Idhras, uttering various words of confirmation.

Talrith stepped forward as well, not in the least hesitant about this decision, This was what he trained for, this is what his life is about, hunting The Death-kindred, wherever they were to be found. This is what his father had died for, and if need be, he would Die for it to. "I will go!"

High Paladin Idhras surveyed the group of devoted warriors. "Brothers, I thank you for stepping up to this challenge. We ride out with all possible speed! Go now and prepare gear and your mounts for the journey, and return to me in the Tempest Gardens. We ride in one hour."
The gathered crusaders begin to disperse quickly and silently to see to the preparations for the journey, and Idhras goes to a chest in the corner and opens it to retrieve his weapons.

Talrith filtered out of the council room with the rest of the men, leaving the commanders to plot the courses. Not a word passed between any of them, as they walked back to the sleeping quarters. Doubtless, they were all, like Talrith, pondering how the Death-kindred could have arisen again so quickly. It had taken much time and many lives to eradicate this evil alliance of demons and monsters, and now to find out of their return after such a short period of time was, at the very least, horrifying.
They reached the door and threw it open, revealing a long room filled with many beds and cabinets. This was the general sleeping quarters of all in the guild. The men dispersed, each going to his own bunk, to retrieve what items they needed, Talrith made his way to the chest at the foot of his bed, and hastily began pulling out everything he would need, A few extra pairs of clothes, his bedroll, a worn blanket, and a small purse of money. He also gathered together his armor, and sword, both made with silver, and bearing the crest of the Crusaders Guild on it: a Full helmet with a sword and axe crossed behind it. He then looked at his sword, A magnificent two-handed blade that had been in the family for thousands of years, It had been recovered after the battle of Tyh-Noyra, where it had been found in his Father’s bloodied hand, and had been sent to him. It had many times tasted the rotten flesh of the Death-kindred, and now it was about to again. He buckled it to his side, and then quickly packed the rest of it. Now he was ready. He made his way out if the sleeping quarters, passed some follow warriors raiding the Guilds supply of weapons and armor and other necessities, and out onto the street, where there were already wagons being loaded with provisions and equipment. Talrith placed his gear on a nearly empty cart, and, without waiting for the others, proceeded down the empty streets of Tor`Khonith, toward the Tempest gardens. It was a quiet night, and a full moon hung in the sky amid a myriad of stars. The city slept peacefully, save for a few small lights that glimmered faintly from the windows above. The tavern was still lit, and the sounds of noisy patrons spilled out onto the streets. He often wished he could spend his lifetime, carefree and oblivious to the world, doing what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do it, but there was something inside him that he could not escape, something the drove him to fight. To protect, to give up a carefree lifestyle so that others might have it. And all we wished for in return was that people wouldn’t take his sacrifice for granted.
Finally the Tempest gardens came into view, a vast structure that, held inside of it an undying tempest. It was considered a monument and sacred site to the Matoirin, and an object of wonder to all other races. As he opened the heavy oak doors he was met by a fierce gust of wind, carrying with it small drops of rain. The Water felt good on his arms, hands, and face, and refreshed his body, making him feel stronger, quicker, and more alive. He immediately spotted High Paladin Idhras, as well as some other high ranking Crusader Knights. As he approached, Idhras turned and greeted him.

"Talrith Storm-sword... It makes my heart rejoice to find that you will be joining us. Your father hoped you would carry his sword into battle, and that you have done." Idhras smiled warmly at Talrith, then turned back and knelt where he had been, facing the tempest when Talrith approached. "Will you join me?" He asked, gesturing to a spot next to him. After a moment he spoke again. "As you know, the Crusaders' Guild does not have many hardened trackers in its midst. I have asked the Tavorian to send us a scout, and we must meet him or her twenty leagues south of here. From there we must ride on foot to stay with the scout."
He sat in silence for a few minutes, gazing at the storm.
"It is amazing is it not?" He gestured to the storm, then to the stone walls surrounding them. "The rage of the skies, contained in the flesh of the earth... It never ceases to confound me."

"My lord," Talrith said looking his life-long mentor in the eyes, "I live only to serve the Crusaders. What do you require of me?"

Idhras glanced at another Paladin, who nodded.
"Mount up, we will ride south now."
He rose to his feet and made his way out of the Gardens to where his Gryphon Ielekos (Eye-lek-ose) waited impatiently for his master in the courtyards. The majestic beast tossed his noble head and let a gentle squawk in recognition of the approach of its best friend. Idhras patted the golden head and slid up to the saddle already perched on Ielekos' back. Around him the other crusaders performed similar actions.

Talrith exited the building behind Idhras, and mounted a spare griffin, one of the many that the Crusaders Guild had acquired. The creature flapped it’s wings a few times, and then, with a great leap, ascended into the sky. Talrith slowly guided it towards the diminishing shadow of his commander, and the griffin began following him through the starry sky. Talrith double-checked his sword, making sure it was tight in his scabbard, he always feared losing something we he was in the air. But his sword was still there, and he had nothing else to lose. All his other supplies would arrive later by cart and he had everything he needed in the meantime. The steady and rhythmic beat of the griffin’s wings as they rose and fell slowly lulled Talrith to sleep, and soon he was asleep.


He awoke to a brilliant sunrise, up ahead he could still see the form of Idhras, slowly guiding his steed in the right direction. They had to be close. Down below he could see the crags and rocky mountains that were prevalent in this region. He gripped his own griffin tighter, not wanting to be dashed upon the rocky outcroppings the dotted the area. Suddenly his griffin descended, spiraling downwards, Talrith grabbed the creature harder, and it squawked in protest. He looked below him and saw that High-Paladin Idhras had already landed, and was dismounting. Talrith, assuming this must be the meeting spot, loosened his grip on the Griffins neck and it landed smoothly beside the High-Paladin

Idhras approached the lone figure perched comfortably on the pillar at the corner of the road.
"I presume that you are the scout that has been sent for us by the Tavorrian?" He asked of the figure on the stone column.
The figure clothed all in black replied as it slipped from the obelisk. "My name is Kell."
"It is good to make your acquaintance," Idhras gave a slight bow. "I am High Paladin Idhras of the Matorian Crusaders' Guild."
"Well met." As Kell bowed in the half-light of evening, the black that enveloped his body shimmered, decreeing that what covered his body was not clothing at all, but actually short glossy fur. The only covering on his body seemed to be a pair of matte black shorts made of woven cloth and a harness of scorch-blackened leather holding a rather knife sheath upside down pressed against his left ribs, tilted slightly toward his right hand. A spear, also fire-blackened, stood stiff in the ground next to the pillar.
"Do you need a mount?" The Paladin standing before him questioned. His white garb contrasted starkly with the black of his new charge.
"No, sir. My people do not keep horses or other beasts of burden. Whatever we need, we carry, and we can run nearly matching the speed of horses."
"What about weapons? Yours do not seem well fitted for extended combat," Idhras pressed on.
"I am no warrior, my skill lies only in tracking. These weapons are sufficient to supply me with food, not for war."
"So you will not join us in battle?"
Kell shook his tawny head. "If that is permissible." He reached out and worked the spear out of the ground as he continued, "I spotted many tracks about four hours back merging onto the road. Naturally I examined them, and I think they were made by spike-soled boots among horses. Their numbers are roughly the same as yours."
"Excellent!" Idhras' eyes gleamed. "I did not expect to find vermin so swiftly." He turned and motioned the gathered crusaders back to their mounts before jumping onto Ilekos and reigning toward Kell. "Lead us onward and we shall end them,"

The Korallthian grinned and bounded off the way he had come, hefting his spear in a rhythm matching his run. The Crusaders' horn sounded and those who had stayed mounted spurred their griffins onward after the shimmering figure fleeing from them.

As the day dawned, the watcher Idhras had sent to circle above the group moving on foot dove down and reported "torches to the east! The tracks will lead us to them!"
Idhras drew his sword and spurred his griffin into the air. His voice carried to the collected thirty crusaders: "Up brothers, up! Let us send these vermin into the void!" Kell stood from where he had been crouching over a set of footprints and began to follow after the cloud of griffins winging their way away from him. He was quickly outstripped and lost in the gray light.

As the flight of battle-hardened hybrids neared the torches, flying relatively near to the ground, arrows began to zip by. One struck and sent a crusader spiraling in a semi-controlled fall to the ground, his griffin impaired in flight only by the shaft at the base of its wing. As the arrow storm increased, it became too difficult for the griffins to dodge them and Idhras gave the command to drop to the ground. All thirty of the warriors' beasts dropped gracefully from the air into a wing-assisted sprint, closing the distance between them and the incoming horsemen in a matter of heartbeats. The wings snapped in as the parties clashed.

So basically, to re-iterate what you may or may not know about forum RPGs, what you do now is explain what you're doing throughout all this, and then pick a target (whom you may describe) and describe your attack against him or her. Then I'll judge the odds and do all those gamemastery things and roll some dice and give you the information as to what happened, and then you can elaborate.

Talrith immediately spurred his griffin onward, And pulled his sword from his scabbard, he set his gaze on one of the horsemen, and the horseman's blood red eyes met his own. Talrith's griffin dove and Talrith swung his sword in a Mighty sideways slash.

The gleaming sword of the crusader sang as it flew through the air towards its intended victim. The corrupt man on horseback incoming whipped up his shield at the last moment and angled the blade up. It skated over the top of his shield. The two parties passed each other and Talrith quickly swung his mount around to engage again, only to find a horseless rider galloping away from the fight. The body of his opponent lay sprawled on the ground. The man had not angled his shield high enough, and Talrith's heavy blade had skipped off the shield straight up into his face, passing up from below his nose up through the back of his head, ripping apart the skull.
The momentum of the first charge had been stemmed. Several Deathkindred horses were bolting riderless from the fight, and two griffins lacked riders. One Crusader was on his feet, apparently knocked from his mount without significant damage. The other lay bleeding on the ground with a lance through his shoulder.
An arrow zipped by Talrith's leg, passing through the mat of feathers on his griffin's wing, but doing no damage. The beast jumped and turned head on to the small group of about eight archers, but Talrith could see another horseman approaching from his left side, lance leveled at him.

Talrith attempted to menuver his griffin away away from the lancer and instead aimed for the archers, intent on ending their harrassment on his comrades.

The griffin responded instantly under Talrith's command and shot away from the lancer on an obtuse tangent that left him out of position to attack. After he had passed, Talrith yanked the reins back toward the archers and leaped into the air toward them, coming within sword reach in a heartbeat and falling from above.

Talrith took a second to clear his head from the aerial maneuvers and took a swipe at the nearest archer.

As unprepared as the archers were for such an assault, no blades were drawn for a moment as Talrith descended. His sword swiped down at one of the archers, who by sheer luck tripped backwards from the combined surprise and backlash from the griffin's wings. The sword slashed through his padded tunic but did no more damage than a scratch. He yelled in pain, but no serious damage was done.
The rasp of blades leaving scabbards filled the air around Talrith as the seven archers on their feet drew steel. Talrith's mount pranced toward the fallen archer, attempting to trample him underfoot, but the man rolled away and came up on his knee with a long knife in hand.

Talrith glanced around at the archers-turned swordsmen, 'Oh well,' he thought, at least their not shooting anymore. As his griffin pranced upon the spot where the archer had stood moments ago, Talrith lunged at the man current position, attempting once again to score a hit.

Again the man fell backwards away from Talrith, this time pierced through the joint of his sword-shoulder, incapacitated and unconscious from the pain. However, the other archers had taken the few seconds to surround Talrith and one swung his sword at a wing as he neared, missing by about a foot as the wings snapped back in.

Seeing his situation deteriorating, Talrith took one last swipe and the nearest foe, then with one word, he commanded his griffin back into the air.

Talrith's sword cleared out some space on his sword hand side as his griffin launched into the air with one powerful downstroke of its wings. One of the men leaped and latched onto a front leg, jerking on it and upsetting the flight pattern slightly. Screaming in anger, Talrith's mount pulled its leg up toward its head and pecked viciously at the man's face, causing him to relinquish his hold and fall the ten or so feet to land on his back on the ground. A few of the men left on the ground sheathed their swords and began to move back towards where they had left their bows.
Two more crusaders were now closing with the archers from their flank.

Not wanting to leave anyone in the position he had just fled from, Talrith circled back and once again decended again upon the Archers, but this time he instructed his griffin to fly over them and attack with its claws,

Hit from two sides, the collected group of men had no escape. As they turned to face the two new Cusaders, Talrith swept in from behind them, completely forgotten and unchecked. as the first two men passed under her, the griffin lashed out with her back claws, raking the face of one of the the men. Simultaneously, she dropped her elevation sharply and sank her front claws into the shoulders of another man, yanking him off his feet as he screamed in pain and flailed his arms. Using her wings to add force to the throw, she banked sharply and tossed the man into another, knocking them both to the ground. The two other crusaders drew near and Talrith was borne up and over their heads as they passed under him and impacted the group, thrown into disarray by Talrith's attack from behind.

Talrith turned his steed once again, his sword ready. His eyes narrowed on a of the archers, and his griffn, somehow feeling his gaze began charging towards it. the griffin dropped altitude and Talrith struck.

As Talrith bore down on the man, he feverishly tried to notch an arrow to his bow. Seeing that he would not be able to fire in time, he dropped his bow and yanked out a long knife as he frantically dived to the side. Unfortunately for both parties, he dove straight into the path of the charging griffin. As the two slammed together, there was a ringing snap and an anguished scream from Talrith's mount. The knife the man had been holding had caught between his body and the griffin's, and had been driven into her shoulder all the way to the hilt and then snapped. All three tumbled to the ground, and Talrith was thrown a few feet away. The dazed archer laid under the thrashing griffin as she tried to rise, hampered by her ruined leg. Then suddenly he was brought to full consciousness as as her claws grappled at him to gain purchase on the ground. He struggled for a moment, until the creature finally realized that the held under her the cause of her pain, after which she ended his life in a few gory snaps at his neck.

Of the two other crusaders, one had been unhorsed, but both he and his beast were still healthy. When the last archer fell, he remounted and they spurred toward the main battle, now dwindling as the enemies were killed or routed.

Talrith sheathed his sword and knelt next to his steed. She moaned softly as he approached. He inspected the wound he breathed a quick sigh of relief, it was not fatal, but was deep and was bleeding profusely. Talrith wasted no time in fashioning a make-shift bandage. As he did so he surveyed the battlefield.


I don't know if you want to Sum up the rest of the battle or not? I think we're winning but I would like some more details