Chaos in the city

While Sanryu was busy surviving in the streets of the city, a duo of tabaxi managed to infiltrate the Marquis' mansion, taking advantage of the chaos created by the skaven.

"Quick! Quick! Some of these monsters have been spotted in this neighborhood! We must not let them near the Marquis' house." Guards rushed to intercept a group of skaven that was located near this neighborhood.

"Well, the skaven are giving us a better diversion than we would have had with our brothers, come on Fenrya." Borz is on the one hand happy about the Skaven invasion, giving him and Fenrya a great opportunity.

The guards and soldiers of the mansion are drastically decreasing, emptying the security of the Marquis's home. Borz is Fenrya, they easily manage to avoid the gazes of the maids and butlers of the house, after all they are too busy running around the mansion, securing the Floga family's precious objects.

"There he is! We found him." Borz and Fenrya look out from a corridor, which leads to a large room, where in the center of it there is a man who appears to be about forty years old, with fiery red hair that reaches his shoulders, with a chevron moustache, always Red. He is wearing a battle wizard's robe and seems intent on taking to the field too, together with his men.

Currently, he is giving his orders to the guards around him, and also directing the servants of the mansion. "Dickard, stay close to Zaria, and make sure nothing bad happens to her, you will be escorted by a group of knights." Berdo tells an elderly butler to take care of the safety of a girl alongside the Marquis, she also has red hair, she has a worried expression on her face.

"I can fight too! Don't send me away, father!" The girl doesn't want to run away, but fight together with her father.

"No! Zaria, you need to escape from here, it's not safe to be here anymore, and you're not ready to fight in a battle yet." Berdo looks at his daughter with a serious look. "Zaria, it's true that up until now I have been an absent father, your mother's death has shaken me to the core, but know that I have never lost the love I feel for you, it's your sister... you are the family that gives me stay, and I can't afford to lose you, so please, go with Dickard, and get to safety. The guild square, is the meeting place of all the guards in the city, there will surely be many adventurers too, you will be safe there ." Berdo places a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Then you come too, what are you staying here to do?" Zaria doesn't understand why her father doesn't head to the square with the rest of the forces.

"This is our home, this is where your mother died, I can't afford to abandon her like this, I don't want to give up the Floga house too easily to those monsters, I will fight until my last breath, it's my duty as patriarch." Berdo looks into his daughter's eyes with a compassionate look. "You are your sister, you must survive to carry on our lineage, you absolutely must not die, is that clear?" Berdo wants to make sure that his daughter received the message she was given.

"I...I understand, father. I will survive for the sake of the family, it's for yours." Zaria, barely holding back her tears, is with a trembling voice, assuring her father that she would survive this.

"Good puppy, now go, head to the square, please, protect my daughter, it's the last order of your Marquis." Berdo looks at the knights surrounding them, ordering them to protect the life of his daughter at all costs.

"" "At his command, Marquis Floga!" "" The knights swear to carry Zaria unharmed, towards the square.

"Great, now everyone go away, I have some intruders to chase away." As soon as he says these words, Berdo turns his gaze towards the corner where Borz is Fenrya, they were watching the Marquis.

"He found us ehh, I wouldn't have expected anything less from the strongest in this city." Borz comes out of the corner, showing himself to the Marquis. "We meet at last, Marquis." Borz is not afraid to be seen by the Marquis.

"You seem to know me, but I have never seen you, who are you?" Berdo is sarcastic, it is normal that he has never seen Borz, after all, only humans live in the Alterac region.

While Berdo and Borz are busy talking to each other, Zaria escapes with his group, but not before seeing the two figures who are about to face her father.

"It's normal that you don't know me, but I'll just tell you my name, Borz and I don't think there's any reason to tell you more." Borz takes a fighting pose, apparently he fights with his bare hands. "I came here to kill you, Marquis Berdo, prepare yourself." Borz announces the reason for his presence in this city.

"I thought...then I'd say we can start dancing." Berdo also prepares for battle and creates a ball of fire on the palm of his hand.

Before Borz could lunge at Berdo, Fenrya dashes forward, overtaking Borz's position. "Fenrya!" Borz calls out to Fenrya, trying to stop her, but having no success.

Fenrya quickly draws her sword from its sheath, charges at the Marquis, trying to cut Berdo's head clean off.

"I see we're impulsive here." Berdo says only this, it is with a quick movement, he dodges Fenrya's slash and with an even greater movement, he places his hand in front of the girl, and then fires a <Fireball >, the size of a human head, hitting Fenrya's abdomen. Fenrya, throwing her a few meters away.

"Fenrya!! Damn you!" As soon as Borz sees Fenrya being hit by the magic, he throws himself towards Berdo, wanting to punch him.

"You won't be able to kill me that easily, know that." Berdo easily dodges Borz's strikes, causing the latter to become irritated. 'How is it possible that I can't land even a single blow? He is a magician, but he has also trained the physical body, so as to counteract such a situation.' As Borz says, some magicians not only spend their time studying and practicing magic, but they also train their body, so as not to be easy prey for opponents in melee. But even if they train their physique a lot, they will never be as good as a warrior or a monk, but Berdo is not the patriarch of the Floga just by birthright, he is one of the strongest individuals in the region.

"If this is the level you're at, I don't think you have much of a chance of killing me." Berdo has no problem facing these two tabaxi, he is with another <Fireball >, he throws Borz away, causing him to crash against the wall of the mansion. "Are we done yet?" Berdo seems somewhat disappointed in these two tabaxis.

"It's not over, human!" Fenrya suddenly appears behind Berdo's back, wanting to thrust her blade into the Marquis' heart.

"You are tenacious, beastkin." Berdo is not caught unprepared, he hits the woman's stomach with a quick kick, interrupting Fenrya's attack. "Go keep your friend company." With one hand, he grabs the tabaxi's head and spears it at Borz who is currently trying to get up.

Fenrya flies towards Borz, and the two bodies collide with each other, stunning the two tabaxi.

"Let's get this over with soon, I have other guests awaiting my welcome." Berdo channels his magic into his hands, creating a large ball of fire, the size of which resembles the size of two melons placed together. "<Fiery sphere>" Berdo pronounces the name of his spell, but just before casting his magic, five small figures from the upper floor throw themselves towards the marquis, taking advantage of the magician's concentration on the two tabaxis.

Berdo notices these invaders at the last moment, and with all the speed possible at that moment, he turns his sphere against those five, throwing it at them. The sphere leaves the Marquis's hands, hurtling towards the five invaders, hitting one of them, but the other four manage not to be hit by the sphere. The sphere crashes into the ceiling of the house, creating a large explosion of fire, which destroys part of the mansion, causing the creature that was hit to turn to dust.

"I see they're already here." Berdo faces the four short figures, who now sees their figures very clearly.

The four figures are none other than skaven with strange clothing, this dark clothing covers the entire body of these humanoid rats, leaving only the hands and feet of the paws visible, a mask covers the entire face of the rats, leaving space to see only bright green eyes. These skaven have ampoules of green liquid on the belts of their clothing and in their hands, they carry two medium-sized daggers.

'Murderers?' Berdo understands the role of this Skaven unit, from the clothing they wear and the weapons they use. The four rats continually attack the Marquis, not letting him breathe even for a second. 'How annoying.' Berdo begins to get fed up with this situation and casts another spell against the rats. He holds out his hands in front of him, and from these hands a wide-ranging blast of flame comes out. "<Dragon's Breath>"

The blast of fire managed to hit two of these skaven, reducing them to ash, the other two sensed the danger of the spell and moved quickly, avoiding the hot flames. "Now you're just missing-" As Berdo was about to say something, from the shadows of the house, a multitude of these assassins emerge from the darkness, showing themselves to the eyes of the marquis. "It's to be expected...you're not the only ones who came to see me." Berdo manages to count around seventy of these figures, surrounding him on all sides. 'This is a real problem.'

*Heavy footsteps*

But unfortunately for the Marquis the threats don't end there, heavy footsteps come from outside the mansion, and suddenly these steps are no longer heard, something breaks through the walls of the mansion, creating a large gap between the walls.

"What the hell is that?" Berdo has never seen such a creature in his lifetime. A sort of abomination of a rat-like creature appears before the eyes of the Marquis, showing itself in all its grandeur. Various mechanical pieces, such as wheels, gears and fluid pumps have been grafted onto the beast to ensure that it moves at optimal speed, as if it can no longer take a step without these mechanical pieces. A multitude of heads pop out from the lumpy mound of muscle and bone at the front of the behemoth. The heads snaking out are all vermin-like, but some shimmer hairless, like unborn rat monstrosities. Many have eyes, but not a few are blind, they twist and stretch to catch the scent of prey, hiss and bite the air with razor-sharp incisors.

As soon as this beast appears in front of the Marquis, the latter knows that his end is now near. 'Agnese, accompany me in my last moments of life.' Berdo holds in one hand a gold ring that belonged to his beloved, hoping that the spirit of the deceased woman can guide him in these last acts of his life.

"So, what's the plan, Commander?" Captain Ros asks.

"We should escape the city, we will make our way through the waves of these rats, and we will reach the gates of Deria, once we leave, we will head towards the nearby city of Strath, and there we can warn the rengo of this invasion of rats." The commander wants to abandon Deria, it is not possible to defend a city invaded by the sewers, by an enemy he has never met, and from which the tactics he uses are not known. "Believe me, I say this with my heart on my sleeve, I have served in this city for about twenty years now, but this is the only option we have... at least we have the ability to warn other cities of a possible attack of these creatures."

"I understand, when will we leave my commander?" Captain Endryu asks.

"Immediately, I was just waiting for your return, to see if the Marquis would also be present, but given how things have gone, there is no longer any reason to stay here." The commander intends to leave immediately, he doesn't want to stay a minute longer in this hell.

'Oh no, Sanryu will remain isolated in this city...it can't be, but what can I do?' Zaria is in the grip of a whirlwind of thoughts, not knowing what to do.

"Miss? Are you okay?" The butler who accompanies her worries about her young lady, as her face is losing color.

"It's okay, Dickard...I'm just worried about Sanryu." Zaria reveals his sincere thoughts.

"The adventurer from before? My lady, I don't know him, but I'm sure that if he promised her that he won't die, then it must be so. He doesn't look like a boy who talks nonsense, he makes empty promises, I think she should be more calm." the butler Dickard is of a certain age and therefore he can somehow see if the person in front of him is trustworthy and sincere, and Sanryu gave him a good first impression, which is why he tries to relax his young lady.

"You say? Dickard you are a wise man who has served my family for years, also recognized by my father, your words comfort me...but I cannot remain completely calm." Zaria calms down a little thanks to the old butler's words, but her thoughts still turn to the boy.