Roleplay from Kellan Dodger (25 days, 5 hours ago)
Message sent to everyone in your realm (8 recipients)
Kellan chuckled softly as the spirited young she-elf turned to lead her troops away. With a subtle hand sign he signaled his Udorians to let them pass.
Grathe gave him an incredulous look, and he smiled broadly in return. "She doesn't seem too bad, for an elf," he explained. "If she meant harm to the Isle, I think she'd have acted quite differently. We will see what comes of her; she and her men seem useful in a fight, and we have need of allies these days. In any case, there isn't a decent place on the Isle she can go without four men battering down my door to inform me." Kellan rolled his eyes; while his many titles provided him with great influence and resources, it was all a bit ridiculous sometimes for a backwoods native raised more like a yeoman than the great Lord he had become.
He signaled for his Captain to approach. Sieger removed his mask as he fell to one knee, awaiting his Lord's command. A veteran of the southern campaigns, he'd replaced Caspar as Captain of Kellan's guards when the Burned Spears were assigned to guard Soniel. His features and long golden hair marked him as a man of the Mistwood, though the troops he led were of mixed heritage; some were Udorians of Dwilight, from which the unit had taken its name and its unique skirmishing tactics, but most were Firstblood of the Isle, and they even had a few Cathayans among their number.
"Inform the scouts to keep an eye on the she-elf," the Lord Protector commanded, "but she is not to be harmed without my order." Sieger nodded his assent and rose, striding off to fulfil his Lord's orders.
Kellan turned back to Grathe, throwing an arm over his shoulder. They walked through the woods of Rapael a ways, examining the bodies of the Ogrocs and assigning men to pile the massive corpses, which would be left for the scavengers of the forest to feast upon. Their attendants brought their horses, hobbies of the Isle, a hardy breed with an ambling gait meant for travel rather than combat. They saddled up, riding north.
Grathe gave Kellan a tour of the new recruitment center, close to the coast, where shipments of Cathayan steel supplied a massive smithy which churned out thick armor, broad shields and a variety of weapons. The barracks and training yard were spacious, and young men of the Isle had already begun training there. Kellan was pleased to see that the massive quantities of gold he and Grathe had invested had finally paid off. The Shield of Khalkar would be the new elite infantry of Coralynth, their heavy front line.
After a simple but hearty meal in the barracks, Kellan spent some time getting to know the new recruits. Many were drawn from the Shadow Clans of Rapael, wild and hard northerners, the third branch of the First People. It was good to have all three in one place, preparing to fight at each others' side once more. Though the nobility of the Shadow clans had died out or left the Isle, their blood still ran strong in the north; along with the Ecsetuan breed, led by the great Geg clan, and the men of the Mistwood, led by the Dodgers, they would revive the great warrior traditions of the Isle. Kellan would soon return to Rapael, and along with Lord Grathe these men would be initiated into the Order of the Khalkar, taking the steel oath.
Kellan left Rapael in high spirits, which even a sudden summer downpour could not dampen.
