Chapter Text
As we begin our story, three men step into their new bodies. The leader, Marcus, realizes they're in their combat armor...well, what passes for combat armor in this world. His leather is tight, practically a second skin. Zor, his barbarian enforcer, is used to fighting without armor, but his 'clothes' now stretch the limit of modesty, with only his crotch covered by a loincloth. The elf Xen appears to be dressed modestly, but unless there's something protective under that robe, it's not practical for combat...
"Are you sure that info was right?" Marcus addresses no one in particular, trusting one of them to give him an answer.
"The Kuroinu are kind of hard to miss. The scouts heard them celebrating from a mile away." Xen continues, "Are you doubting my abilities?"
"No, just..."
"Relax, both of you. Marcus is just worried about the mission." Zor, has changed from a half-orc to a half-elf, dark elf, specifically, to the momentary shock of his two friends "We've been planning this for days, and if things go south, we've got plenty of reinforcements at the fortress. Now, if those fuckers move as Xen says they will, they should be in our reach by nightfall. When they make camp, we jump them and rescue the girls."
"The Princess Knights." For some reason, Marcus insists on their proper titles.
"Oh, my mistake, my Lord." Zor replies sarcastically. Marcus hasn't paid much heed to titles before, so this shocks the race swapped warrior. The leader looks apologetic at his companion's good natured barb.
"Sorry, Zor, I have fond memories with most of them, and I know they've earned their titles. I can't wait to kill those raping bastards...!"
"Quiet. Someone might hear..." Xen cuts off his leader.
"Who?"
"Do you think we're the only ones with scouts and spies? The possibility is there, and I won't be killed just because my leader can't keep his mouth shut."
"Shut up. You're talking too, Xen." Zor cuts off the argument. The sun is glowing orange on the horizon. "Night will fall soon, then we move out. You guys get some rest, I'll take first watch."
---
Night has fallen, and our trio advances slowly and quietly out of the ruined town neighboring their fortress. Their intel (read 'Xen'). suggests that the mercenaries would be arrogant and maybe even drunk, but that's not an excuse to make needless noise. This is still a large patrol of combat veterans escorting precious cargo for the current ruling power. Our heroes are not taking this lightly.
"Hold. I smell them..." Xen crinkles his nose as the leader turns back to face him.
"You smell them?" Marcus never doubted Xen's superior senses, but was a little skeptical of this particular feat.
"Yes. They're drunk mercenaries, you think they smell good?" Marcus and Zor copy Xen's nose crinkle when they imagine the scent in his olfactory bulbs.
"How close?"
"Close enough. Get ready to fight."
---
Sneaking near the border of the camp, the reposition themselves so that Xen is in the lead of them. They know his eyes are best, so they give him the best viewing point.
"How many do you think there are?"
"There's got to be at least twenty, but most of them are drunk. There are probably a few sleeping it off in the tents...I count...maybe three or four sober." After a moment's pause, Xen confirms "Yes, four."
"We can handle that." Marcus is confident in his team's fighting abilities.
"Assuming we keep away from the sober ones. Where are they?" Zor, ever the tactician, is trying to see every variable.
"Well, it appears they're smart. They've stationed one sober watchman on each of the four cardinal directions, so no matter where we come from, we could get seen." Xen cursed the enemy's passable tactics adding difficulty.
"What about that dark magic blast you showed me in training? Does it make sound?"
"Not by itself, but the damage it causes would. Even if I scored a direct hit, everyone would hear his head explode." Xen describes his magic with a flat tone, being used to its effects.
"Damn, that dark magic is hard core..."
"Grow up, Marcus, like you've never seen magic blow something up."
"I'll take point. I can take care of them quickly and quietly. Where do you want to approach from?"
"North entrance has the fewest guards, but south gives us the quickest route to the prisoners."
Said prisoners being the seven Princess Knights, former rulers of the land of Eostia, as well as their main enemies before Volt took power, Chloe and Olga of the Dark Legion.
Zor mulled potential plans over in his head before deciding. "Hmm...leader's call."
"Alright..." Marcus began thinking of potential plans.
'They aren't expecting an attack, so if we go in hot, we'd surprise them, but if we slow play it, we could take them all out, leave no witnesses...speed is our friend here, since they aren't ready, but if leave witnesses, Volt would know we're in play and there'd be no more easy targets like this...no, Volt's no fool, leaving no one would only buy us until the Princess Knights would've gotten to their destination, a week at most. The primary goal is to rescue the Ladies, then we'd have a strong base to form our rebellion.'
"We'll go in hot, through the south."
"Your call, boss." Zor responds, ready to fight.
"Are you sure? This isn't something you can take back." Xen asks for confirmation.
"Yes. Rescuing the Princesses is our goal, and Volt would find out we did it either way. We get in, rescue them quick, and get out. We can kill anyone sober enough to pursue us."
---
Approaching the south side of the patrol's camp, Marcus and Xen break off to the sides, while Zor continues straight on. There are three guards keeping watch, a big one with a great sword, and two smaller ones with regular longswords. only the big one is completely sober. This is the guard that zeros in on him.
"Hold, state your business!"
"I'm here to fuck shit up."
"What?"
"You heard me."
Without another word, Zor punches the sober guard in the face. The man staggers, and before he can yell, Zor's fist impacts in a devastating follow-up. Knocking the guard to the ground. At the same time, the two inebriated guards are choked out by Marcus and Xen, with Marcus snapping his neck after the process is complete.
"Kill them." Marcus said simply. His usual enthused voice is now devoid of emotion, focused on the mission.
"Alright." Zor replied back, punching his unconscious opponent in the windpipe with enough force to shatter steel, preventing breathing.
The noise from Xen's victim was the last to sound, the slight crack of a snapped neck. Whether this was due to a reluctance to kill or being the physically weakest of the group is anyone's guess.
"Are we still clear?" Marcus didn't hear any commotion after taking these three down.
"Yes, stealth is intact." Xen didn't hear anything out of the ordinary, and at this range, that's a sure bet that the trio is okay.
"Okay, new plan. Hide these three, take their weapons, and let's see how far we can get with blades."
After dragging the three bodies into the forest flanking the path, reliving them of their weapons and money (mercenaries got paid, after all), and consolidating again, they resolved to sneak in as quietly as possible, still under the cover of night, and free the Princess Knights. Crossing the now unguarded south entrance to the camp, most guards were asleep, and those that weren't might as well have been for all the use they were spotting three quiet intruders before being stabbed through their vitals. Making their way to the pillory in the center of camp where the women in question were kept in said devices, locked standing naked with their upper bodies enchained in wooden prisons. Marcus sneaks close to a tall, blond elf woman with the largest breasts of the group, the leader, Celestine Lucross.
"Lady Celestine, can you walk?"
"Hm?" Looking around for the source of the whisper, it would seem our heroine had previously given up hope of rescue. Marcus speaks again.
"It's me, Marcus. I'm here to free you all."
"Marcus? It really is you...we can walk, but only one of these men has the key to our stocks..."
"Not a problem. Zor?" At the prompt, Zor punches the iron lock off its hinge and renders it useless. Marcus lifts the top half of the wooden device, freeing Celestine.
"Thank you, Ma--"
"Keep it down. We aren't done yet."
"Hey! What're you doing with h--" Zor runs him through with his blade, killing him.
"We'd better deal with some of these guys before we go out. We can't risk anyone, even the drunk ones, seeing you with the girls."
"It's Princess Knights!" At that moment, Marcus had fucked up. He'd drawn the attention of the three remaining sober guards, as well as the several drunk ones. Even if they were next to useless in a fight, they'd still put up resistance where there was previously none. It was a risk for the Ladies Marcus had sworn to save, and now he needed to eliminate that risk.
"What's going o--" Marcus stabs another, adding to the blood pooling in the local soil.
"Great, now we have to kill all of them." Xen walked out of a tent, robe stained with the blood of those previously sleeping inside. He did not look happy. The guards were starting to mass and were preparing to swarm their position in the center of the camp.
"Boys, protect the Princesses! Celestine, stay in that tent! We'll get you when it's over!" With a quick nod from the elf woman, the trio of men prepared to fight, confident in their skills.
---
Marcus took his fighting stance, prioritizing speed and evasion, preparing to strike with his weapon. He parries one strike before cutting one man in the shoulder, making him drop his weapon, and stabbing another man through his heart in a guaranteed kill move. By now, the parried opponent has recovered, and strikes again, but Marcus dodges at feeling a presence at his back, forcing the first man to slaughter his comrade. Marcus swiftly takes advantage of the shock by cutting through his neck, spewing blood accordingly.
---
Xen is passable at swordplay, but is primarily strong at magic. What kind? All kinds, it seems. He's learned holy magic to buff and heal his teammates, and also dark magic to curse and kill his foes, which is exactly what he's doing right now. Firing dark magic blasts like bullets from a 'finger gun', Xen shoots anyone in his effective range of 120 feet. The magic tears the flesh like butter and mundane armor only presents slight difficulty, especially when a second shot quickly follows the first. Rest assured, so long as he holds his position, no one will advance through him.
---
Zor is a monster on the battlefield. His bare fists are strong enough to shatter concrete and dent steel, pairing that strength with a blade and his combat skill can only end badly for whoever's on the other side. He took the side where the most enemies swarmed, facing down a tide of mercenaries. They could barely handle him together while sober, to say nothing of now, with the vast majority befuddled as they are. Their sword swings hit nothing but air, and Zor shows no mercy to the Princess Knight's defilers. The highlight of the battle is when an enemy group lined up perfectly to allow Zor to decapitate three men with one swing of his great sword. In the end, all his enemies were dead, and Zorgath the enforcer was covered in their blood.
---
"Well, that went...sideways." Marcus was remorseful that he'd sidetracked the mission, and with his enemies dead and the Princesses all but free, he'd regained his smile and emotion.
"Yeah, maybe next time don't yell out in the middle of an enemy camp." Xen was still not happy.
"Hey, it worked out, didn't it?"
"Yeah, because they were all drunk and lazy! If that wasn't the case--"
"But it was. Quit your bickering." Zor was focused on finding the key to the pillory. While he could punch the iron locks into uselessness, it would put unnecessary strain on him when they were searching the bodies for gold anyway. "Found the key. Let's free the..." Zor paused, realizing what he was about to say. "...Princess Knights."
"Thank you, Zor." Marcus smiles as Zor begins unlocking everyone and Celestine reappears from her hiding place. As the process was finishing, the men were approached by another blonde woman. Though she was beautiful, she wasn't nearly as tall or endowed as Celestine. This was Alicia Arcturus, former mistress of the First Fortress.
"Who are you people?"
"Well, Lady Alicia, we'd be the cavalry. We can handle proper introductions once you're all safe in my fortress."