Mansion Troubles I

Sven walked towards the outskirts of the town with Ignis, Alice and Elise in tow. They had been freed from their captors when General Vander and his army had surprise attacked General Bergh's platoon, freeing Sven of his worries about what would happen to them if he now betrayed Bergh. In truth, Sven could leave town right now and he would be free to roam the lands without consequence, so long as he didn't show his face here ever again that is. But Elise's voice inside of his head had reminded him that 'you shouldn't lie'. Vander didn't seem like a bad guy, not like those bandits he had betrayed back in the deep forest all that time ago, he couldn't exactly justify lying to Vander - however betraying Bergh on the other hand... Vander was tight lipped about the details but it was implied more than once that Bergh would hurt his wives, and that didn't sit too well with Sven.

"Run, there's another coup happening in the town square!" An Orc ran past holding onto a bag full of food, his little brother trailing behind him trying his best to keep up.

"The idiots have gone power mad, it's every man for himself!" Another Orc barged roughly past an elderly man who was waiting outside of his front door, knocking him to the floor amidst the chaos of a city in turmoil. Elise rushed to the old mans side to help him up as Sven knew she would, she was a kind spirit at heart after all.

"Well aren't you a sweet dear- oh no! Get you and your friends to come inside this instant or I fear they might-" The old mans face flashed with panic as he spotted a group of thuggish young Orcs patrolling the streets, their cloths were black with metal chains fashioning their shirts and pants. They were wielding wooden clubs fixed with metal spikes, the leader of the pack, a big fucking Orc swung his club menacingly as he waltzed down the street. The old man had been too late in warning her as the Orcs had picked up their leisurely stroll and were heading straight towards them, with anything but benevolent intentions reflected in their greedy gaze.

"Come on, quick!" The old man struggled as he pulled on her arm uselessly, the strength of his younger years had long since faded as he failed to lead the young girl into his house. Elise wasn't worried though, these guys looked like easy pickings. Standing up she gave the old man a reassuring wink before she walked back Sven just in time for the Orcs to stop in a standstill in the middle of the street mere meters away from Sven.

"Why you hiding little girl? Come out and play with us~" One of the lackeys tittered.

"Lose the human girlies, we'll show you a good time won't we fella's?" Another Orc asked, followed by various shouts of agreement.

"Not many girls round these parts, many of us got blue balls from all the bullshit we have to live with, ya know? How about you relieve some of our pain for us~" One of the other Orcs asked with a smirk.

"I think I could take your master on, how about you do him a favor and come to me willingly? That way your ex master doesn't have to get all his teeth bashed out of his skull." The leader finally said, smacking his club into his bare hand. Sven sized him up and inspected his character sheet. Then he burst out laughing.

"No way idiot, move aside so I don't have to kill yet more Orcs today." Sven warned dangerously, the groups jovial taunting stopped, frowning at the words they'd just heard him speak.

"Look human, racial tensions round these parts have been out of hand recently, a human gets killed here, an Orc gets stabbed there - I think it's in your best interest to stop fooling around and hand over your women, don't you think you owe us something for the recent Terran attack on our port? Don't forget that this is an Orc city, you're out numbered here. One false move and your kind will be lynched in the streets, bitch." The Orc spat at the floor as he finished, Sven felt the anger building up inside of him, it looks like these fools were about to win a Darwin award.

Without so much as saying a word in response, Sven unsheathed his Slyvian blade and in one deft move, severing the group of low level Orcs's heads clean from their shoulders. He knew he had become a lot faster, but he hadn't anyone low level to compare it to, up until now most of his opponents had been of equal or higher level than he had been. The old man slowly closed the door as he watched the decapitation play out on his door step, just before he closed it, Elise could see the fear on his face. But was it directed at Sven? She couldn't tell.

Looking at his hands he flexed them experimentally, as if appreciating them for the first time. He had definitely gotten a lot stronger, had these Orcs attacked him on his first night in AxioM then he would have likely met his end there and then - but because he had trained and leveled up day and night, he had come this far. Realizing that time was of the essence, Sven swiftly carried on to the city gates, even from where he now stood he could see the mansion looming atop the hill he was climbing, watching him like it was a living, breathing entity all on its own.

Times like these, Sven often wished he was an assassin, or a thief, or a rogue, or just anything other than a bumbling 6'9 tank. Completing his rounds around the compound, Sven had seen very light defense outside the mansion itself, in fact it seemed to be vacant of any guards at all.

"It could be a trap, a mansion this size on the outskirts of town? Bandits and thieves would have picked this place clean by now if it was undefended." Looking around from the top of the hill, Sven couldn't see another man made settlement for miles, the closest was the city itself. The sand beneath his feet was warm to the touch, hot and arid and unfit for most other forms of life. A place like this, atop a sandy hill with no fresh water for miles, maybe the place was naturally defended enough not to warrant protectors or guards?

"How should we approach entering? If it is a trap then the front door would like be littered with them. Should we scale the wall?" Alice asked as she picked up a handful of dry sand, letting the grains flutter from her hands by the carrying wind.

"This place must be like kitty cat heaven for you huh Alice?" Ignis asked with a barely contained grin.

"And why is that, fire midget?" Alice quipped back.

"Isn't this entire desert just one big kitty litter tray? You can poop anywhere you like now!" Ignis tittered, Alice fumed as a small blush grew across her face at having been likened to a domesticated pet cat.

"Quiet you two, this is serious now. Sven made a promise to that admiral and now he intends to keep it, right Da-Sven!" She caught herself slipping one again, the other girls didn't get it but Sven couldn't help but chuckle.

"That's right, game faces everyone. We don't know what we're up against so we should be cautious and play by the rules." Sven marched down towards the front door of the mansion, it was the place most likely to be trapped, but maybe that's what the owner of mansion was hoping people would think? Well, you don't know unless you try sometimes.

"Stand back, I'll try the bell first." Sven said as he walked confidently up to the front door, ringing the bell he waited for a second - after a couple more seconds of nothing, Sven turned around to make a thumbs up sign to the others before suddenly and without warning, the ground beneath his feet gave way and he found himself free falling through the earth, seemingly materialized out of thin air.

"Sven!" The girls shouted down to him as the floor began to close back up, leaving him falling through the darkness alone.