Channelknight Fadran

The stairs up the belltower absolutely killed her calves, but soon enough she'd reached the top. Several others seemed to have had the same idea, including a set of winded-looking elderly folk and... were those sprites? Two sprites, in Drakefell? "Are you guys okay?" Ahna asked.

"The belltower should be defensible. What weapons do you use?"

Running towards the belltower, Ahnalyn couldn't help but continuously glance back at the charging forces. "We aren't anywhere near the front... those surely can't be demons?"

The banner was deep crimson. No nation's emblem flew on it - instead, the vague form of a curved dagger in pitch black emblazoned the center.

"Ahnalyn." She drew her shortblade, more for the familiar comfort of the hilt than anything. "Belltower."

A bell began to ring. Nearly evening now, so it carried on chiming for several long seconds. Twenty whole clashes of mallet on metal, ringing out to the edges of the little town and beyond in a deep, somber tone. Some old-timers around the tavern looked up at the sound, apparently having nothing better to do over their drinks than to listen to the time. It hadn't even occurred to Ahna until now just how quiet this town really was. Alesworth, was it called? Just the last sort of place you'd expect anything at all to happen, and the last sort of place you'd expect someone of her own boss's repute to organize a crew. Unless a pot of gold was buried right beneath their feet, there wasn't anything here that could convince her was of Master Khangal's note. Then a horn sounded in the distance in the fading echoes of the chimes: none she had ever heard before. Every head that could hear swiveled to the north where it had come, a once-quiet town turned to complete hush. It called in a sort of jagged, arrogant blast - whatever it signaled, if anything, certainly couldn't be good. A long, thin shadow cast over her face. Ahna squinted and turned her eyes towards the ever-approaching sunset, barely spotting amid the harsh gleam a banner being hoisted aloft at the head of the village. In this glare she couldn't make out what was on it. "Halai-aka!" Shouted a distant voice in the old tongue of Drakefell. "Attack!" And then a roaring of dozens of men once agian drowned out the silence, followed by the thundering of running feet and a clatter of old weapons.

"Unsure yet. Boss said he'd meet us here."

"Presumably."

"The guy I'm working for right now is... something of a treasure hunter." She shrugged, looking a little sheepish. "We get a cut of whatever he tracks down."

"Sure am, though I dunno what type of wage you take." Ahna held up two fingers. "Are you a case-by-case merc, or are you open to longer hauls?"

He chuckled. "I don't find it boring."

"I'm a general practitioner, diagnostician, microbiologist, and surgeon if need be."

"Ah, then we might be seeing each other often."

Ahnalyn slid into a seat beside him, mug of something or other in her hand. "You're the merc, huh?"

Doctor Theodores decided to rejoin his new aquaintance. "I am Doctor Calin Theodores. This is Ladcral, if I remember correctly."

Who would've thunk it possible to be constantly hyped for something? Like, during every waking hour of your life?

@AltonicKeys

"Will you be in the medical department?"

"I'm... I'm a doctor doctor." He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Medical, I mean. And a Microbiologist myself."