Chronicles of Magnus: The Kilton Chronicles Chapter 2

Kilton rode Heryssa into towards the town. He looked around for anyone that looked like they were from the group that attacked him. No one particularly looked like they were part of the gang, but... He needed to find someone to ask. The townsfolk didn't seem particularly interested in someone strolling through their town, and Kilton didn't want to draw attention to himself in the chance that there were informants among the crowd. Kilton looked for the tavern, figuring that would be the place to ask around. Kilton took Heryssa over, he hopped off of her and then hitched her with the other horses.

Kilton walked over to the doors and the raucous was loud, even outside of the building it seemed to be a busy place. Kilton sighed as he pushed the door open. There were a few eyes drawn towards him as he entered, mainly just the ones closer to the door. Kilton stepped towards the bar area, “Can I get some whiskey?” He asked plainly. The barkeep lofted his brow at him, “Alright--” He poured him a cup and passed it to him. Kilton tossed him a few coins.

Kilton needed to loosen up a bit before approaching these people, mainly because he knew it wouldn't be a question that would be easily answered, or even asked at this point. He turned and saw a few dwarves, humans, senbiru, even an elf. Kilton was impressed with the variety of people here. But he shrugged it off, this wasn't the capital anymore. He looked around the room to see if there was someone he felt comfortable enough asking for assistance. There was a lone senbiru woman, she was just down the bar from him and picking her teeth with a massive knife.

He turned around after taking a swig of the whiskey. The burning sensation loosened him up. He scanned the room, looking for some... sign of a sort with the raiders from earlier. He noticed a board, going towards the wall he looked up to it. There was a map and a wanted poster. The wanted poster had a man with the symbol that the raiders were wearing. He pulled it off and saw the bounty to be a lot of coin. He then looked on the map and sighed, unsure of where to go from here.

The senbiru from earlier walked up to him, and then down at the paper, “Hey, hot shot, you really plan on taking on the Brutes?” She asked, with her arms folded. Her jet black hair was tied up, her dark blue skin was flawless with her eyes glowing gold.

Kilton lofted his brow at her, what was her angle? He couldn't afford to give her too much information, he didn't even know her that well yet... “While I was on my way here they took something important from me, so yes.”

She looked him in the eye, staying silent for a few moments, “Smart kid, keep your secrets close to your chest” She said with a nod, “However, if we're gonna work together I'm gonna need some modicum of trust-- name's Heila,” She said making her way out of the tavern.

Kilton lofted his brow, “What makes you think I'll work with you?” He said, not quite following her yet. Heila shrugged at him, “Because I know where their base is.” Well, that certainly made the decision a lot easier.

Heila looked around outside the bar and turned to Kilton, “That horse over there your's?” She thumbed over to Heryssa, Kilton offered a nod. Heila turned to Kilton, “Never liked riding with horses but we need to be quiet where we're going,” She shook her head. She whipped her arm around and began fidgeting with a slab on her wrist, “Lemme just put in the coordinates real quick--”

Kilton looked at her, he had seen runeslabs before. They were slabs of stone enchanted with various runes and powers. The higher quality of the stone the more enchantments it could hold. He lofted his brow, the woman seemed to be carrying an Obsidian one. That was quite expensive. He looked up to her, and then back down at her runeslab.

A small ping and Heila looked over, “Alright, that way-” She pointed in the direction they were going, “We should be there by nightfall. Probably the best time to get people out, it's when most of them are out doing their pillaging and plundering,” Kilton hopped onto Heryssa and Heila hopped on behind him. The two of them made their way to the bandit base camp.

Kilton turned towards Heila, “What's your angle?” Heila lofted her brow at him, “Pretty easy, don't you think? You're going after the thing they took from you, I'm going after them. You get what you want, I get what I want. Win/win I'd say,” Kilton furrowed his brow, but turned towards the horizon. Heila looked at her runeslab, “Alright, up here you're going to want to take a right at the fork in the road,”

Kilton followed her directions as they made their way through the fields and into a forest. They found a river within the forest and began traveling north. As the dark began to set in, they finally found the fortress. Heila and Kilton hopped off Heryssa.

Kilton saw the fortress from across the river, it looked massive. These were no ordinary bandits or raiders. They seemed quite organized all things considered. Enough to have that massive base, at least. It was a small defensible tower, surrounded by a fence.

Heila pulled out a sheet of leather. She grabbed a small piece of charcoal from her bag as well, “Alright, the schematics seems to be your standard Bynam fort from two hundred years ago--” Kilton looked at the tower and nodded, she was correct it seemed. Turning back to her, she began sketching out the general layouts of the building, “While they may have customized it a bit, they can't really change the whole structure. In these they typically had a dungeon in the lower level. But they also had a treasure vault here--” She circled the middle of the tower, “So likely whatever you're looking for is in those two areas, but what I'm here for is the leader of this bandit ring,” She put an X over where the ringleader's room most likely was: The Commander's Quarters, “Chances are he's in here which is only just across from the treasure vault.”

Heila looked over to Kilton who had knelt down and was going over the plans with her, Kilton nodded, “Well there're those two treasure vaults but also there's the hidden chamber--” He placed a circle beneath the X of the Commander's Quarters. Kilton looked over to her, “Very possible what I'm looking for could also be there, or were you hoping that they wouldn't be in there and you could keep all of what was there for yourself?” Heila smirked, “Can't pull a fast one on you, I guess.”

Heila and Kilton kept an eye towards the entrance, watching and waiting until the raiding party left the base. The gate opened and a large group of them left. The two of them waited a few minutes before heading around to the other end. Heila looked over to Kilton, waving at him to come closer, “Help me up--” She said, making a motion for him to toss her over.

Kilton nodded, lifting up the woman and helping her over the fence. She landed with a soft thud, “Alright,--” She grabbed a rope and tossed it over to the other side. She waited to feel a pull from Kilton but it never came, “You coming or what?” She said, trying to make sure she wasn't too loud. Next thing she saw was Kilton leaping over the fence and landing next to her with a soft thud. Heila looked at him and blinked, “You're a Soulblade!?” She whispered in a shout, “No wonder you were that cocky.”

The two of them made their way sneaking through the base. It was empty and the two of them had little problem navigating their way through the exterior. However, they finally made it to the watchtower. Heila pulled out her guns, turning towards Kilton, “Alright, here's where the fun begins...” She and him motioned to either side of the door, “We have only a few hours to get in and get this done before the rest of them get back.” Kilton nodded at her, he pulled out his blade and took a deep breath. The two burst into the room.

There were at least five men in the front room, “Hey, what're you doing--” One stood up, but Heila pulled out her gun and fired it at the man, runes glowed on the side of the gun and the noise was a small shoom instead of the usual loud bang. The man had a hole in his chest and collapsed onto the ground. The man who was closest to Kilton as he walked in was also cut down. But those were the only easy kills. The other three grabbed weapons and began to fight back. Kilton stomped on one of the tables, using his magic to aid him, and it flipped over and provided cover for the two of them as they began to fight back. One of them turned to the other, “Go light the signal flare!” He shouted.

Heila grunted as she fired at the other one, “Shit! If he lights that signal flare we're going to be turning from a few hours to less than an hour--” Heila pulled out from behind the table they were using as cover, and fired a few blasts. Kilton nodded, “Then we need to end this quickly and go after him--” He looked behind the table and lined himself up, “Going to have to give up cover, be ready to pick off one of them if they dodge...” He said before kicking the table and sending it flying. The table crashed into one of the men, while the other woman dodged it. Heila lined up her shot and fired, shooting her in the chest as well.

Heila snarled, “Alright, we gotta go--” They went towards the door the fifth raider left out of only to a large stairwell, it went down and up, “That way probably goes down to the prison-- but we need to go up,” Kilton looked down the stairs, realizing that his guardians were likely there but knowing that they had to go and make sure they could escape later.

The two of them ran up the steps, trying to follow behind the escaped raider. After a few rotations there was the raider, standing there with a sword in his hand and a pistol in the other, “I'll make my stand here--” Kilton narrowed his gaze at the man, inspecting him. Heila pulled out her own pistol and pointed it at him, “I don't have time for small fry--” She quickly shot to his side, hoping he would step into it but he went the opposite direction, “Shit...” She muttered under her breath.

Kilton lifted his hand and the raider lifted off the ground, “I'll make sure you won't miss--” The raider pointed his gun at Kilton and fired it off, causing him to lose his focus and drop the man as he rolled down the stairs. Heila took her aim and shot his rolling body...

Heila looked over to Kilton, “Yeah, sure didn't miss that time--” She laughed before charging back up the stairs, “Now come on, we're wasting time--” Kilton nodded, “I was about to say the same thing.” He ran after her, they lost precious time but the raider that they were chasing was dead. That gave them a bit more time as they ran up to the upper section of the tower to find the captain's quarters. Kilton lifted his hand and blasted the door.

There stood the captain and three guards... And a lit signal flare... Kilton and Heila's eyes widened... He must have passed along the messaged to one of the guards. The captain stood there with a sinister grin, “My my my-- what do we have here?” He looked at the two of them, “Well we got a sexy senbiru and a rather handsome human... Tell me--” He lifted up his hat, revealing a long scar down his face, “What brings you two out here to my lil camp out here?”