Chapter One: The Journey For Redemption Begins

At the Glovania capital, Glovar...

Twenty prisoners walked through the streets of Glovar with armed soldiers surrounding them. These men were rebels. Cowards. They had betrayed the kingdom and joined up with Ian Kinglsey's group, which was a dire offense itself. These poor and shackled men had no idea what was going to happen to them. All they knew was that they were going to meet the very person they were trying to defeat, King Simon.

They walked down the cobbled roads of the peasant district, guided by the soldiers. After a while of walking, they made it to the main castle and were brought before the king in his great hall. They all went through the great doors and were halted by the soldiers to stand before the kings throne and face their judgement.

"I see you have brought me an audience," the King on the throne commented. He laughed wickedly. "Very good."

Simon stood up from his throne. He was almost a middle aged man. He had black hair that had streaks of gray and had a thick mustache above his lips. He grinned.

"Is it true that the lot of you have worked collaboratively with the criminal, Ian Kingsley?" he asked them, though he knew the answer.

The prisoners nodded and confirmed their guiltiness. Simon smiled.

"You do realize what the punishment for this is, don't you?" he asked rhetorically with a smile on his face. "Death."

"Damn you," a man from the group of prisoners said. Simon immediately turned his head and walked over to the man.

"What was that you said?" Simon said with hint of anger in his voice.

"Damn you!" the man yelled.

"What?" Simon replied with an evil grin, putting his hand behind his ear. "I can't seem to hear you. Say it again!"

"DA-" the man was cut off as Simon shoved his pistol into the prisoner's mouth and fired, sending blood and bone matter everywhere behind him. The prisoners gasped and some yelled in fright. Simon put his gun in his pocked and turned his back on them.

"Take them away," he said to the guards. "Take them out to the back and get a firing squad immediately. It seems we have to express ourselves to make a point."

The prisoners looked in fright at each other, but were led away before they could react. Simon sat down on his throne and picked up his wine to take a quick drink. After a while, suddenly gunshots were heard in the distance. Simon smiled, and went on with his business.

This cruel act of the bloody king would be known afterwards as "The Massacre At Glovar Castle," where King Simon murdered the rebellious in cold, uncaring blood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Meanwhile, in the center of the Griswald Woods...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The forest is under attack!" yelled a messenger. "The King's Men are here! The forest is burning!"

Ian woke with a start and immediately grabbed his weapons from the tree he had them leaning on. He looked to the east and noticed smoke rising. Oh no, he thought to himself.

"Everyone go towards the smoke! Defend the forest!" he proclaimed to the small camp.

Ian ran as fast as he could towards the direction where the smoke was coming from. He arrived to see several of his men trying to fight of at least fifty of the King's musketeers. They were holding them off for now, but soon their lines would break if they didn't receive any more help. Some of the trees were on fire, but there were people attempting to put it out before it got dangerous. If the fire was successful, they would lose their home.

Ian whipped his bow out and knocked an arrow. This fight they would win. They had to. Ian aimed at a musketeer and released the arrow, sending it straight towards its mark.

((OOC: The show is starting! Get yourselves over here and defend the base!))

Wolf got his battle garb on and ran into the forest, taking care to hide in the thicket. His intention was to ambush a group of musketeers. He moved toward them, swiftly but quietly. When he came within range, he threw his tomahawk at one of the men, hacking his skull open. Wolf instantly leapt on the corpse, ripping his weapon out and chopping open the neck of a man next to him. The musketeers drew their sabers and charged Wolf, but melee combat was where he truly shined, he sidestepped their blows, hacking open a couple more skulls. He slammed his axe into the sternum of the captain of the small group, then turned to see a musketeer aiming straight at him.

Dusaro leaned up from his bed at the sound of the message, he quickly suited up and grabed his gear running into the forest. He joined with his comrades and pulled out his gun with his sword already battle ready. He took a shot at the closest musketeer sending him to the ground, he moved off to the side and closer seeing another one of the rebellion soldiers ruthlessly kill a soldier, but noticed a musketeer lining up a shot. Dusaro quickly aimed his gun and shot the enemy in the chest and another to finish him off.

Ian fired over and over with his bow, sending enemies backwards from the impact as it smashed into them. The grunts on their side were being pushed back by the musketeers and their lines were breaking. The musketeers were now leading a charge with their bayonets. It was time for some close ranged combat.

Ian shouldered his bow and pulled out his revolver, killing four musketeers charging at him in succession. He pocketed his revolver and ripped out his longsword, raising it in the air.

"Everyone!" he yelled. "Charge!"

Ian ran at a musketeer with his sword, knocked away the man's gun, and stabbed him right through the chest. Two other musketeers attempted to skewer him with their bayonets, but Ian blocked them both with a sword swipe. He stabbed one of the enemies with his sword, pulled his gun out with his left hand, and shot the other. This battle was just getting started. Ian charged with his men towards the remaining musketeers...

Wolf dove back into the brush, noting to thank the man who just saved his life later. He grabbed his rifle and began firing at the charging musketeers from behind, always aiming for the neck, and always hitting. Soon, he was within ten feet of the men, and drew his tomahawk. He saw Ian, and fought his way through the musketeers, hacking two of their spines open.

"Kingsley!" he said, cutting open another musketeer's skull, "I trust you are well?"

"Indeed," Ian replied, hacking a musketeer in front of him across the skull with his sword. "It is good to still see you in one pice, Wolf! Stand fast and fight by me and these minions of the King shall stand no chance against us!"

Ian loaded his revolver and fired upon the ranks of the charging musketeers, killing many of them with the six shots. He pocketed again and pulled out his sword just in time to stab an approaching enemy in the stomach. This battle was intense, but it was almost over. Though they were outnumbered, the King's soldiers stood no chance against the spirit of Kingsley's forces.

Dusaro went forward with the rest of the troops fireing off rounds at the enemy and cuting down who ever got too close. He took cover to reload his revolver but quickly reapeard to the fight to take down another soldier with a shot to the chest.
A musketeer charged him from the side with his bayonet, Dusaro turned and tried to avoid it but it cut into his side. Dusaro quickly kicked the musketeer which realeased the blade from him. He finished the enemy off with a shot to the neck. He looked up to the rest of the battle and noticed they were about to win. Dusaro held his wound and began to cut into the enemys with his sword.

Ian, Wolf, and Dusaro were practically taking on the musketeers by themselves. Ian was thankful that the King didn't send any stronger units to fight them, or they would be in trouble. Because of Kingsley's forces being spread out so far around the forest, it was difficult to defend against large scale assaults without sustaining large amounts of damage before reinforcements arrived. But Ian chose the best of the best to be at the front lines, so they would likely have no problems.

Ian fought fiercely with his comrades, cutting musketeers and occasionally shooting a few with his revolver. The battle was fierce, but there were only about twenty enemies left for them to kill now. They were winning. Ian let out war cries as they defended against the charging enemies, until something terrible was spotted. Suddenly two mounted gatling guns on wheels rolled out with a men behind them.

"Take cover!" he yelled. The musketeers behind the guns turned the cranks of the guns and the terror began. Bullets sprayed out of the large guns at a fast rate, ripping into several of Kingsley's forces. Ian himself dived behind a tree, narrowly dodging a stray bullet. He pulled out his revolver and reloaded, making sure that he was ready. He turned to his two other comrades.

"Wolf! Dusaro!" he said to them in a hushed tone. "Sneak around the trees and take out those two gunners from behind! I'll grab their attention and lay suppressing fire."

He nodded to them, signaling them to go and Ian popped out of cover quickly.

"Hit me if you can, you bastards!" he yelled, firing a volley of bullets, hitting a few musketeers that were still charging. The gunners aimed at Ian, but he jumped back into cover before the bullets could destroy him. He smiled. This plan looked like it was going to work. His two comrades would have to be stealthy and work together for their plan to succeed...

Dusaro noded at Ian, then motioned for Wolf to follow. Dusaro began to go off and planed to go out and around to avoid being seen by any of the kings men. After he got a little ways out he waited for Wolf. While he was waiting he began to search through his bag for what he hoped to find. Dusaro pulled out an old bottle which had been made into a molotav cocktail. He pulled out a match and his gun and slowly began to move forward agian.

Wolf ran through the thicket and climbed a tree. He traveled through the trees until he reached one above the gatling guns. He drew his tomahawk and motioned for Dusaro to attack first, then he'd follow up.

Dusaro noded then lit the molotav cocktail and hurled it over the heads of the men firing the first gun and onto the back of the second. The bottle exploded into a ball of fire igniting the gunners and sending them runing and flailing there arms. Dusaro now had the attention of the other gunners who already began to shoot at him.

Wolf dropped out of the tree into the flaming maw Dusaro created, hacking one gunner's skull open as he fell. He turned to the one manning the other gun, but there were several soldiers between them. He cut into a soldier's neck, then chopped into another's chest.

Ian dived out of his cover when the mounted gunmen were killed and raised his sword into the air.

"Charge now!" he yelled. "Slay them all!"

Ian charged with his sword in one hand and pistol in the other. He slashed through men and unloaded into a few musketeers. They were winning now. It was inevitable. Ian let out battle cries as he blocked the blows of two musketeers and beheaded them both in one swing.

"Finish them off!" he yelled to his men. "The King will learn to never mess with the woods again!"

Dusaro pulled out his gun and began to fire upon the enemy who in a desperate attempt tried to form a battle line, but with his comrades spirits high they easily broke it and sent them runing. Dusaro fired off a few more shots then reloaded whaching, they would retreat any second now with their spirits broken. He then had a pain in his side again, it was the wound he felt more blood coming through his fingers, he slowly walked over to a fire and began to hold a long broken bayonet into the flames.

Ian turned to Edger.

"We all fought well," he said. "We should be proud of ourselves."

Ian turned to the whole group.

"Someone break out the ale!" he yelled with excitement, a smile on his face. "This victory calls for a part!"

The men cheered and everyone made their way to the center of the forest to drink and eat fine food while they could.

(OOC: Party time!)

Dusaro used the heated metal to close his wound and stop its bleeding, luckly it wasent to deep. He joined the rest of the group and cheered with the rest of the men as they went back to their camp. when Dusaro arrived ale and some food was already being distributed, He took a cup and sat while hereing the celebration and the congratulating of the surrounding soldiers.

Ian drank with his comrades and ate merrily. They deserved this celebration. Defending the forest was no easy task, and breaks were appreciated. Suddenly a messenger ran into the forest.

"Kingsley!" he yelled, running to him.

"What is it?" Ian asked, standing up. The whole group of soldiers became silent as they awaited for the messenger's answer.

"I have bad news," the messenger said, taking his hat off. "There......there has been a commotion at the King's castle."

"A commotion?" Ian asked. "What do you mean?"

"Remember that group of spies we sent out a few weeks ago?"

"Of course I do," Ian replied with a concerned look on his face. "What of them?"

"Simon," the messenger said, "He killed them. All twenty of them. He just took them to the back and shot them like dogs. Their heads are now on pikes outside the castle."

"That bastard!" Ian yelled in anger. He turned to the group of soldiers before him, to talk to them. "This King's acts of indecency will be countered with justice. He has gone too far, now. We have defended villages against attacks, defeated his soldiers, sabotaged his equipment, and he just won't give up. It is clear to me now that the only way to end this is by ending that wretch's life. He has lived in cruelty for too long, and the only price he can pay, is in blood. This cannot be tolerated. This will not be tolerated. Starting from tomorrow, we will begin the journey to assassinate Simon, the false King."

The soldiers all looked at each other in wonder. Was he crazy? Most of them thought so. Going after the King was almost suicide. His city was filled with guards and their were no reinforces to help with the mission.

"I am asking for a select group of men," Ian said to them. "This mission may be large, but only a few can go. We cannot attract attention. You will have to be willing to give up your life in order to restore order. I will ask now for volunteers. If no one wishes to come, I shall go myself."

Ian looked around, looking at his best men.

"Who will help me defeat the King once and for all?"

((OOC: Alright, volunteer yourselves!))

Dusaro took a sip from his mug as he listend to the arriving news, and to Ians ask for volunteers. Dusaro thought about it for going after the king would be very hard indeed. Although he had felt guilty for the things he had done under king Simon, and now was his chance to avenge those people. He decided on a conclusion he would avenge the victims of Simons rule even if that required his life.
"I will go!" Dusaro said suddenly standing from his seat and taking a few steps over towards Ian "I heard sabotage, I can do that" He said ending with a smile
then turned towards the rest to see who else might join.