Thanda the Grim and the rest of the Band

A follow on from my last post introducing the Gals from the Band.


THE WARRIORS

Red Sonia is my lead warrior, she has fought in many battles, and has many scars but few enemies. (They are all dead and some are even buried).

Renowned for her speed and strength, she is lightly armoured with just a red leather tunic to protect her body.

With her lightening fast reactions she usually gets in the 1st strike with her famous axe, “Damage” and with her extraordinary strength she uses this 1 or 2 handed with devastating effect. She carries a short sword as back up and is lethal with her throwing knife, carried easily to hand in a leg sheath.

Atsuko – Young, lithe and a fearsome pit fighter in her native land, she is easily recognised by her mop of henna dyed red hair.

Well armoured in a mix of plate and mail she is carrying this years must have accessory an armoured hand dagger usable as a small shield as well as a Turlanian steel one handed double edged sword.

She fights in a low, crouched ambidextrous two-handed style sometimes known as the scorpion, in which she is able to use the spikes in the toes of her armoured boots as a surprise sting.

Valeria The Vixen – mad as they come, completely fearless and un-armoured, she carries 4 knives which she can throw at you or cut you or stab you or slice you or gouge you, well you get the point, (usually in one or sometimes both eyes).

She attacks, wild eyed and howling, her enemy has usually fled long before she gets to the dirty close in fighting that she adores.

She feels no pain when in this berserk fighting fury, wounds don’t slow her, only in the aftermath of blood letting does she rest, exhausted and weary, her energy spent.

Ayesha – A warrior with attitude - a bad attitude. Born and brought up in the wild wild west, she quickly learnt to fight to take and keep what she needed to survive.

Young, beautiful, fast and swift, like all superb warriors she distains armour in favour of speed.

Her right arm guard acts like a small shield and she carries an enchanted bronze sword, “Blitzen”. Sharper than a razor and twice as deadly, used in Ayeshas off hand this proves too much of a challenge for most warriors.

Kimera – Well armoured as well as well as armed she can stand her ground in the battle line of any warlord but prefers single combat, usually in front of an admiring audience.

She is strong enough to swing her hand and a half broadsword either 1 or 2 handed, faster with 1 but the power of the 2 handed stroke usually takes down any but the best armoured opponent there is. Her amazing stamina means she can continue when all but the strongest have slowed down and are laying on the floor in a pool of their own blood.

Lady Estrel Lada – comes from a noble family but with a drunkard for a father and a wastrel for an older brother she had no choice but to marry or take the habit of a nun. Of course there was the 3rd choice that no one offered and so in the quiet of the night she took the family armour and sword, which fitted her much better than it did her fat toad of a brother and left for places unknown.

She is a renowned warrior – fearless and brave, not as skilled as she would like because all her training has been on the road. She is searching for a teacher, one skilled enough to perfect her technique.

Lubek Olivia Shem - from the south lands where the people are smaller in stature, but that usually makes them faster. She had to find work to survive and after a fight in a tavern when she badly injured 2 of the city guards, she had a choice - execution or taking their place. She chose the latter.

The city of Koth has been good for her, she has been trained in the use of the trident spear and because she is a woman was taken on in the bodyguard of the Emir of Koth, who had a liking for fast, fearless, female warriors, she has risen in the ranks and commands a Decca, 10 guardsmen of some considerable skill.

Natsumi – Her yellowish skin shows immediately that she is from the East but there must have been other blood in her ancestry maybe a Northerner because she is tall for an Easterner, powerful and lithe with red hair, but maybe her favoured weapon a big bladed axe indicates a difference as well.

She is equipped with chainmail chest and crotch armour. Totally useless for defence but in a fight with a man, and most fights are with a man, this armour is very distracting for them and usually by the time they realize this, it is too late.

Oh Lee Ling So – Another member of the Emir of Koths bodyguard she works closely with Lubek Olivia Shem. She comes from the East a land of dragons and spices and was brought up as a courtesan, not work that she took to and she escaped on a camel caravan headed west.

When she was discovered, she bit the hand that didn’t feed her and would have had a bad time of it but for Lubek, who was in command of the escorting guards at the time. Slight and not strong she took to the short curved duelling sword like a duck to water. Deadly and fast she protects Lubek’s back as if it was her own.

Ashara - is my only archer she comes from the exotic hot lands of the south, as an infant, almost before she could walk she was given her first bow. This was her constant companion and before she was 6 could bring down a running gazelle at 100 paces.

Practice, practice and more practice and her skills improved beyond measure, she has specialised arrows, some curved ones can literally shoot round corners, some make insane howling noises that ensure an enemy runs for their life rather than stay and fight. Her speciality is running at full pelt and firing arrow after arrow with alarming accuracy.

Aneka – is an all round warrior, trained from an early age with a hand draw crossbow, it does not have the range of the windlass drawn one but is faster to fire and just as accurate at close range.

She carries a short sword with which she is not as proficient as with the crossbow but in a dirty hand to hand fight it is deadly. For protection she has a small buckler which can be used as effectively punched into an opponents face as it can be used to deflect a sword cut.

Ingar Swordmistress – she also carries an hand drawn crossbow, carries a long sword and wears a mail shirt and leather and steel helmet.

Ingar is as proficient with both her weapons, favouring the sword as a weapon of honour but realising that the crossbow has more uses and is likely to ensure she stays alive longer.

A blonde warrior from Vanir the land of ice and fire, she is smart and wily. A veteran warrior of many fights, she will see many more to come.


Well that's the introductions over, next post will see them in action. Hopefully before the New Year.

So if you're still here - Thanks for reading.