A group of 35 bandits had separated from the ‘party’ in the center of town. They were one of the smaller gangs, but were hardened from years of plunder, rape and slaughter nonetheless. They were being led by their leader, a man they both affectionately and jokingly referred to as ‘Rockhead’ due to both his incredible headbutt and his stubbornness. Rockhead was intent on getting as far away from the 200 heavily armed and armored knights as possible, knowing that if Prince Edwin was willing to slaughter a village of 100 innocent people just to give his knights the practice of doing so, then the gathered mass of rogues might very well be next. Naturally, a few of the newer ‘initiates’ were less inclined to leave, so Rockhead had left them to whatever fate the prince had in store.

More than two thirds of his men were piss drunk with both alcohol and the rush of getting a few gold coins, which had been ‘generously’ given out by Prince Edwin as a ‘thank you’ to the bandits who joined him on this ‘excursion’. Yes, those were Prince Edwin’s words exactly. Rockhead was used to nobles not giving a flying fuck about the peasantry, but this was too much, even for a seasoned bandit like him. He had expected to be attacking a well-fortified town, maybe taking a few loses but having a decent fight. This wasn’t what he wanted. He formed this group to prey on those who had money to spend, not a village with barely a 100 people and among whom only 3 or 4 had anything of the slightest value! Of course, he knew that if he had backed out upon seeing his target he would have been cut down by the knights….

As Rockhead and his ‘merry band’ made their way to one of the many gaping holes in the palisade left by the magical assault that the knights had launched, he noticed movement from just beyond the hole and what sounded like the clanking of metal.

{Damn, looks like my hunch was spot on. The twisted bastard doesn’t intend to let any witnesses live! Well, I ain’t going down without a fight!}

He made a signal to his companions that they knew all too well. Ambush ahead.

One of Rockhead’s lieutenants was a skilled thief and could mas his presence from all but the most talented beings. He used the Thief skill Cloak Of Shadows and went through the breach and around the wall. He was out of sight of his fellows and saw his targets and prepared to shove a poisoned dagger into the gap between their helmets and breastplate. He got in close was about to strike, only to be gripped on the face by the metal hand of what he now realized was a gaudy red, almost dark pinkish golem. In his last moments before the hand crushed his skull, he saw the terrifying sight of a single glowing red eye light up in the center of the golem’s face.

About 2 minutes after the thief had left, his arm waved his companions to signal that the coast was clear. Rockhead and his band had full confidence in the abilities of that thief, and therefore did not think for a minute that the truth was that the severed arm of said thief was leading them to their doom. As the 34 men stepped out into the open, over 200 glowing red photoreceptors lit up simultaneously.

Every single man in the group could smell something foul, and every single one of them realized it was them.

Th first act of the battle that would come to be known as ‘Prince Edwin’s Folly’ had already ended with the razing of the village; now came the second act.

…

…

Prince Edwin’s retinue of knights and tagalongs were known far and wide as being despicable and debased people. This was no accident, as the Prince expressly chose those who shared his nature as his companions, aides and servants. While it was unknown whether it was true, it was believed by most people that Prince Edwin had some sort of Unique Skill that tempted others to follow his path and that that was the reason that so many of the noble houses, knights and higher-ups in the Kingdom supported him. Of course, this may have been due to his right as first-born to be heir to the Throne, but it was more likely that he had some ort of twisted power. The assumption that this was the case came from the fact that even the most honorable and pure-hearted people who met the ‘Black Prince’ suddenly changed into the most vile, hedonistic, debased and cruel people imaginable. These things were why even though they had just killed every person in the village, the knights and bandits were still having a grand old time doing all sorts of deeds that even the most avid advocates of ‘free love’ and/ or ‘anarchy’ would find absolutely appalling.

However, the fact of the matter is, they were so carried away in their orgy of destruction that they didn’t notice the glowing mono-eyes or the clanking of 1,000 Mobile Suit Golems as they took up their positions and prepared to open fire. It was only after a few hundred Cracker Grenades had been thrown that the knights began to act. Thankfully for them, they were in the center, and the blasts of the Cracker Grenades didn’t reach them. They were also quite thankful that they had not fully removed their armor and had their weapons still at their side. When the second round of Cracker Grenades came, the knights were now fully prepared and had the good sense to jumps out of the blast range. It was then the army of Arkhan began to open fire into the crowd of bandits that were either unharmed by the grenades, injured by them or were already dead.

The knights were shocked by this new weapon that spit fire and death, but only for a moment. They quickly regained their composure and raised their shields, invoking numerous defensive skills as they weathered the storm of 300,000 12 mm high-velocity rounds. As the gunfire stopped the knights sensed the new threat closing in for melee combat.

The 2nd Act had ended in a slaughter that eclipsed the assault by Prince Edwin’s forces.

Now the 3rd Act began with the clashing of metal and the cries of battle.