Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

Yui · April 4, 2017

You won't find places like this in Isauria, I know that much. In a stark contrast to the dunes and rocks Azar was used to, this place was bursting with plant life. Uncomfortably so, perhaps. Although it was only the afternoon, the forest here was so thick that it looked as though it were already nighttime. And it was cold, probably owing to the lack of sunlight, the location, and the season. Azar was never one for even the slightest chill in the air, and pulled the tan cloak tightly around her body as she continued deeper into the woods. She knew her quest would take her far from home, but she hadn't expected to go places like this cold forest.

Not like I have any leads anyway. I bet they were Pontic. He hates Pontics, so maybe he got on a foreign gang's bad side? But then I'd have to go to Pontus...I'd probably die. Azar couldn't stop to think about the possibility of freezing to death in some frozen hell, however. That would just make it all the more likely that she do it here instead. Stop she would, though, for as Azar continued along the road, she came face-to-face with a fallen tree obstructing her path. Going around seemed unwise; best to stick to the road she figured, in a dark place like this. Going through was an option. If she used the Rashido Method, Azar figured, and hit it as hard as she could, perhaps she could break the tree? But that meant loosening the cloak around her body, and briefly exposing herself to the cold. I'll pass. The only option was to go over the tree then.

A leap over this thing was totally possible. As Azar crouched to make her jump, however, an axe whistled through the air, pinning her cloak to the tree by one of its branches. And as a result, pinning Azar to the tree as long as she wore it. "They're in the trees!" she heard someone exclaim, before turning around as best she could to see what was going on. Weapons were being thrown from the trees, and a woman was ramming one with her shoulder. She had company too. They were being ambushed? Now, in this scenario, a good person would likely help this mystery party with the ambush. Or a selfless one, at least. A selfless person Azar was not.

However, they'd damaged her cloak, slowed her search, and most importantly, if she didn't take this cloak off - thus exposing herself to the chilly weather she didn't want to expose herself to by any means - she was a sitting duck for them to throw more weapons at until one hit the right spot and killed her. The axe would have to come out of that tree later. For now, Azar removed the cloak from her person - leaving it hanging on the tree and revealing to the group behind her a woman with dark skin, most likely Isaurian, and a scarred back - and winced from the feel of the cold air hitting her body full-on instead of through the cloak before turning to the trees.

I'll have to make this quick.

Azar made for a tree near the one the other woman had just rammed, pulling her fist back and preparing to do what she did best. Dark magic. Cast through the body instead of a tome. The Rashido Method...or so she called it. Damn shame, she thought to herself in response to the all-too-familiar sensation of the pain of running dark magic straight through her body. This could have been a good test if I thought of a new idea for this method. Amplified with a use of Flux, Azar's fist swung forward into the tree, hitting it with both the impact of her own strength backed by that of her spell.

Show them to damage a girl's cloak in a cold dark forest.

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · April 4, 2017

Having ran into Gunther a grand total of two-dozen times, due to him stopping suddenly to steer her away from a pothole, Penelope had demanded to walk in front of him.

He still tried to warn her every few steps but Penelope had managed to avoid each pothole despite the fact she was reading the new book Santa had given her "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them." Which was all about the various unusual species of animals the world had. Including Pegasi, Wyverns, and the like. It also had many theoretical entries about supposed mythical creatures. She could certainly use some of these entries and convince people they were real....

Gunther, on the other hand, was so focused on watching out for Penelope that he stepped in almost every pothole they came across.

Thus by the time they reached the forest he was in a rather grumpy mood. "It's okay Gunther." Penelope stated, still reading her book. "Once we camp for the night you can test out that frying pan Santa gave you. I managed to allot some funds for ingredients needed for pancakes."

Gunther was startled. He hadn't told her he wanted to make pancakes for the group sometime. When did she...

"They're in the trees!"

Penelope's book vanished within her usual storage space and Gunther's head whipped to the trees.

They couldn't tell where the enemies were, but the weapons made it clear that there was someone attacking them. Penelope scanned the field to come up with a plan. How does one plan for an enemy one couldn't see? The best course would be to scout ahead. But they had no thieves nor flying units and, even if they did, there was at least one archer.

She would need to send someone into the trees. They seemed to be easy to climb and like it'd be possible to fight from on top of them. But only for lighter members...This was where she realized how big a hole Asura left. Their combat strength had dropped significantly when he left.

Catriona had, of course, charged ahead and rammed a tree like a fool. Then the strange girl that had been attacked....what in the world was that? Did she just punch the tree with magic? No, she couldn't be distracted, the girl seemed to not be a threat. In that case...

"Alois, I need you to get into the trees. Sienna, follow behind him on the ground and cover him. Try and draw out the enemies. Everyone else keep close but move forward and be ready to attack whenever someone appears. Gunther, Edrick, in front. Link, protect Ciela."

She knew she should get ready to fight as well. Her magic would be extremely useful, but....she couldn't even bring herself to draw a weapon. Stupid....

"Yes ma'am." Gunther said, louder than necessary, intentionally snapping Penelope out of her thoughts. Right. She had to focus.

Gunther moved forward, taking his weapon out, and stepped past Alois. He knew he was supposed to be on the lookout for the enemies but...that girl, who was she? He decided he'd keep his eye on her anyway. After all she was a stranger using strange tactics right next to the princess.

It looked like it'd be a while before he could make pancakes today.

[spoiler=OOC]As always Penelope's words aren't law because I don't want to force actions. But she is laying out a general plan for anyone who wants to follow it. Map wise Gunther will move three spaces forward.

Maeriberii Haan · April 4, 2017

It took a while, but the group finally left Ithome and hit the road. A surprise happened before they could leave however, with Asura's sudden departure. Ciela, who felt that she was supposed to feel some sort relief with his leaving, instead felt a certain feeling of loss and emptiness. Perhaps despite their rocky relation to each other, Ciela still ended up feeling that Asura was an important part of the group, so having him leave still affected her quite so.

It was odd, even as they continued on their way, Ciela still tend to act as if Asura was still around on instinct, but she would quickly fix her words as soon as she realized her mistake. The Locrisian swordman's departure in the end didn't affect her emotionally that deeply, but Ciela never reallly experienced much of what she would call loss before. Somewhat similar to the loss of her legs that she often forgot when the situation didn't make her aware of it immediately, she wasn't really adjusting to the lack of Asura in the group properly.

The road they were going was full of potholes and was quite empty from other travelers, which almost made Ciela felt bored. Though the potholes caused Remy to lose his shoe once, Edrick and Link luckily helped with it so it didn't end up leading to worse issues down the line. They set up camp and left before dawn even rose (almost leaving the overslept Ciela behind by accident), although thankfully that kind of pacing allowed them to reach the Vinuvian Forest' entrance seemingly with barely any time passing. Ciela was amazed. It was the time she truly realized just how fast the group reached another place on their destination compared to when she's alone.

Walking on the forest, Cat suddenly stopped on her tracks, seemingly noticing a person on the distance. Another cloaked figure, really? However, before Ciela could start mentally complaining at the frequency of the group meeting suspicious cloaked figures, something a lot more important happened. The sound of weapon being swung, the sound of arrows being fired-

"They're in the trees!"

Almost instinctively, Ciela looked at the tree right across her as she heard Cat said those words, and noticed an archer was hiding on that area, something she realized she was able to notice mainly due to her current position on top of Remy. She heard Penelope giving orders to the group soon after, but did she know about the whereabouts of the attackers? In the meantime, the cloaked stranger, now minus cloak, had approached Cat and started attacking the tree near her. Was that magic? Ciela's eye brightened for a bit before she realized that she needed to stay focused.Keeping eye to the figure on the tree, Ciela went closer to Link.

"An archer is hiding on the trees over there," she pointed at where she last noticed the archer, "if you can deal with him, that'd be great. It'll protect more than me, I guess."

Penelope didn't seem to issue any orders to Ciela for the moment. And in the meantime Ciela had some understanding that as a healer, she's supposed to keep track of everyone and make sure that she's right there when someone needed her. Oh, and she's also probably in a position to notice some of the thugs if she walked around. So with as little care as she can manage, she started to have Remy move around the battlefield as everyone else moved into position. But well, the battle had barely started and nobody's bleeding or getting mutilated yet, and soon her focus was distracted again by the thought of what she saw the stranger do. Since she seemed to be pretty friendly with Cat so far, she might not be that concerning. Well, still pretty concerning, but Ciela's curiosity took priority. So she had Remy lead her forward until she's close to Cat and the stranger.

"A sword to the gut wouldn't be that bad with me around, so just show these thugs what you're made of, Cat and don't worry about such minor thing like mortal wound when I'm here." Mandatory greeting to the boss, done. With that settled, Ciela turned to the stranger, her eyes glowing with excitement. "What did you just do? Was that magic? But you just punched the tree, but..."

Remy in the meantime as Ciela barraged the stranger with her spirited questions, continued to be on the lookout the moment he realized that Ciela was more concerned about chatting rather than protecting herself. A hiss from his side at least made Ciela remember to unsheath her staff and get it ready. Another hiss, and Ciela ended up stopping what she's doing, and actually looked around at the area around her, noticing the two thugs nearby.

"Uh...oh...uh...well, hello there. Nice weather to die miserably, isn't it?"

[spoiler=OOC]

Went up four squares, allegedly to patrol the group and seek out more enemy, but ended up getting distracted by Azar due to the lack of immediate concerns to handle. Remy ends up pushing her to realize the presence of the other two thugs near her.

Alaina · April 6, 2017

After some waiting around, the group had gotten around to getting ready to take their leave of the city. Taking the presents from the inkeeper, who was apparently named Santa, Alois opened his to see that it was something similar to what he already had for his axes. Some means to sheathe and carry them with ease, and not worry about axe blades digging into him as he walked. As such, Alois gave a simple, "thanks Jolly Red," before the group had went on their out of the inn and towards the gate. As they got to the gate, the group was then presented with something else that stopped them, though, this was oddly a message for Asura. After learning that he had to go home to take care of his mother, Alois gave a simple wave to him as he parted saying, "well, catch you later on the road then."

The loss of their swordsman compatriot gave Alois and odd feeling. One he wasn't sure how to describe. It was true that the man was oddly both silent and rowdy, and while the boy couldn't really ever get a bead on him, it still felt odd to have someone they had traveled weeks with just leave like that. Granted, this wasn't the first time it had happened, so Alois figured he'd just get over it all the same. With not much else keeping their time, the group set out to go and cross whatever forest or mountain range they had to venture over.

The day's journey they had spent walking, outside of a mishap with a horseshoe, was none too eventful. Due to this, Alois took his time to take in the sites around him, which is to say not much but the plains, trees and pothole ridden road they were traveling along. As the group had finally made it to the forest, Alois whistled at the sight of it. It had a certain air about it, one that made it far more ominous in contrast to the environment around it. With a shadow cast around the entire area, Alois felt slightly more on edge as they entered the forest, having this odd feeling that some kind of monster just be prowling about and ready to pounce on them.

As the group came into sight of someone else on the road, seemingly stopped by a fallen tree, something did indeed jump out of the woods. Immediately feeling on guard for what it was, Alois noticed that what had leapt at the stranger was none other than...an axe. Well, that was certainly a different kind of monster than he was expecting. Feeling some slight relief, he then realized what it meant and looked around as the older princess shouted that their enemies were likely in the trees. Alois looked baffled for a bit as he said aloud, "what are you expecting us to attack the trees then?" As Cat made her move, it seemed the answer was a resounding "yes."

The littler princess then piped up with an idea of her own, telling him to go climb one of them. He thought the idea of it was ridiculous, but both the idea of attacking a tree and standing around doing nothing seemed to be equally so, so he figured that he'd go with the one that'd give him the best chance at hitting someone. Running up to the tree near Cat, being slightly odded out by the stranger running up and punching it, he climbed up only to see that there was indeed people in the trees. A quick glance showed him there was quite the group who had nesteled themselves up their, but without thinking much on it, he unsheathed his iron axe and struck at the man wielding the lance.

[spoiler=OOC]

Alois climbed up the tree between what I think is a bandit and the soldier. He then attacked the soldier.

Asriel Dreemurr · April 7, 2017

Edrick found himself in high spirits on the day they properly entered the Pelinna Region. Not that there was any word of where Elba had gone, but ever since he had opened his present from Santa and revealed a clear glass bottle decorated in iconography of the Goddess and containing a clear liquid. Of course he explained that it was water blessed in Inera's name, and that it would protect those anointed with it from magic for a time. He did not want them to think that it was something that it was not, and of course their strategist needed to know all the resources they had available to them. So he had marched along with the rest of the group, and since he had not slept in his armor last night he was not horribly sore. It was less than ideal that Asura had left, but he understood the man's reasons for doing so. Of course there was something distracting him now, and he kept looking over in Ciela and Remy's direction.

"We'll have to find someone to properly reshoe him." He'd said after he and Link had managed to get the lost shoe back on the day before. "The nails came out, and we don't have the tools here to do this properly. Shouldn't be a problem for a few days, but we do need to handle it. Best case he keeps losing the shoe, worst case he breaks his leg." Of course Ciela didn't seem overly worried after all of this, and he hoped that was just because of his assurance that it wasn't an immediate issue. Then again, she was far too attached to her horse to neglect him. Especially now that she'd hurt her legs and wouldn't be able to move around so well without him. Still, he kept looking over at them, making sure that the shoe held and didn't go flying off again. The only reason he'd been able to find it the first time was he'd noticed it was loose and had been about to say something when Remy had accidentally kicked it off.

The pace that Catriona had set that day had him worried. It wasn't that he couldn't handle it, a year of trekking across Locris and Histia had done wonders for keeping him in good shape, but more that it seemed an unnecessary rush. He had been planning on bringing up the issue with her, hence why he had been pushing towards the front of their marching column, when they came to the edge of a dark forest. He did not even have to advise caution for their fearless leader to set a slower, more cautious pace. Now his gaze was sweeping the forest's edge, even though in the gloom he couldn't pick out a single thing.

The first alert he received to danger was a javelin burying itself in the path in front of him and an arrow glancing off his pauldron. Well, with battle being entered he needed to do a few things. Firstly he shrugged off his pack and set it on the ground at his feet. No sense in letting the big heavy thing slow him down. Next, he grabbed at the javelin in front of him and pulled it out of the ground, intending on returning it to whoever had thrown it. Not that he could see anyone.

"They're in the trees!" Well, that answered his question without him asking. Not that he could see any of them clearly. Of course Catriona just rushed into action and slammed against a tree, demonstrating admirably that his first idea would not work. Alright, well he had a weapon he could throw now at least.

"Alois, I need you to get into the trees. Sienna, follow behind him on the ground and cover him. Try and draw out the enemies. Everyone else keep close but move forward and be ready to attack whenever someone appears. Gunther, Edrick, in front. Link, protect Ciela." That was not entirely helpful, but without any better ideas Edrick was going to stick to following orders. He thought he saw someone else getting into the fight on their side, but he didn't pay them any mind for now. Handle the enemies first and then work on figuring out who your allies are. That and she seemed to be helping Catriona, and for now he wasn't going to let that distract him any more. The trees nearest Cat were handled, Alois was even climbing up the one she'd rammed into, so that left him with something to decide on.

"An archer is hiding on the trees over there if you can deal with him, that'd be great. It'll protect more than me, I guess." What was Ciela saying with that? Nevermind, she'd pointed out a tree with an archer in it so that gave him a target. So he ran himself down near to the tree that Ciela had mentioned, and lo and behold there was an archer in there. Well, good thing one of their guests had provided him with a ranged weapon.

"Hey!" He shouted up the tree as he reared back with the javelin he'd picked up. "Your friend dropped this! Why don't you give it back to him for me?" And with that he threw the thing with as much might as he could, aimed roughly for the archer's center of body mass. They had to keep fairly still in that tree, so he figured even if he missed he might force them to dodge and send them tumbling down where he could put his lance to work on them.

[spoiler=ooc]

Edrick picked up a javelin that had been thrown, moved down adjacent to the tree the Archer is in, and threw the javelin at the archer.

Hakima · April 7, 2017

Princess Catriona lead the group in a manner reminiscent of marching with the Galtean military. Link easily fell into step with the steady, efficient pace. This was what he knew; it had been his lifestyle for the largest part of his adult life, and it felt natural to return to it, like he was going home again. The rest of the company, however, didn’t seem as comfortable with it, and Link had to remind himself that most of them had come from civilian life. This sort of thing was new to them.

He took the night watch himself, this time just to make adjusting a little easier on the rest of them. Link got the feeling none of them were in for an especially long night’s rest, because Princess Catriona seemed eager to get to the Pellina forest, which was another reason he did it. Link trusted himself to be able to function without any sleep a lot more than he did any of the others.

Princess Catriona proved his suspicions correct when she roused the camp just before dawn. Link had to stifle a laugh, watching most of them stumble about trying to shake off the last dregs of sleep while they threw together a quick breakfast and broke camp. It reminded him of days in basic training, but lucky for this group, they didn’t have someone screaming in their ear for being slow and understandably tired.

And the Night Wolf still hadn’t even seen Ciela, which lead him to believe she was still asleep. Link humored her when she did finally get up, passing her a serving of breakfast and helping her (which really meant that he did it for her) pack up her stuff and load it into Remy’s saddlebags while she ate. Then it was back on the road, which was admittedly a very beat up path full of potholes. Link brought up the rear, so as to keep an eye on everyone, and make sure none of them fell behind.

They made good time. The only setback was when Remy lost a horseshoe, but Edrick spotted it, and Link didn’t have much trouble rigging it back up with the boy’s help. The nails had been noticeably weakened, but he didn’t have the tools needed to properly reshoe the horse. “I can do it when we can get the tools,” he said in response to Edrick’s warning, “but we should bring that with us when we leave, too. Gonna need it if we’re travelin’ a lot.” He distanced himself from the group after saying that, because it was all getting to be too much. Reminding him of Epona too much, and that was a train of thought that wouldn’t do him any good to follow.

The Pelinna forest was as odd as Link remembered it being. The soldier had grown up near the Vinuvian forest, and had wasted plenty of afternoons roaming around it with Ilia and Epona. The atmosphere surrounding it was mysterious, and had played into his youthful fantasies of helping the trees and fairies stop the goblins and other evil monsters. Every quest always ended in rescuing Princess Ilia from the evil wizard, or giant monster, or any other assortment of nasty creature. Between his toy sword and her ‘magic bow’, the two of them had saved the kingdom a dozen times over before they got too old and too busy to be playing make-believe.

This place was nothing like that. The trees were thinner, the branches filled to the brim with needle-tipped leaves that were just waiting to bite into anyone that came near. It probably didn’t help that the foliage was so thick that it blocked out the sun, so the forest was dark, and the temperature had dropped sharply. Still, it had Link uneasy. Something wasn’t right. He could feel it.

An all too familiar whistling caught his ear and Link reacted instinctively, throwing himself in front of Ciela as best he could and raising his shield up. Not a moment too soon, two arrows lodged into his shield with a ‘thwunk’, and Princess Catriona shouted a warning about them being in the trees.

Link kept his shield up and scanned for enemies. He traced the trajectory of the arrows fired at him to a tree just to his left, but he couldn’t see anyone in it. It was too dark and they had too much cover.

"An archer is hiding on the trees over there," Ciela pointed at the tree he had been looking at, "if you can deal with him, that'd be great. It'll protect more than me, I guess."

Link was good at climbing trees because he had practiced it so much growing up, but that left him and Ciela open to attack while he was climbing. H was seriously considering finding a rock to throw at the archer, but before he could, Edrick took the initiative and launched a javelin into the upper part of the tree. Link didn’t have time to see if he found his mark, because he turned and realized Ciela was gone.

That was a problem, and his orders were to protect her, but he found her in between Princess Catriona, Gunther, and the newcomer fighting on their side. Said newcomer apparently had a strange way of using dark magic, Link observed, but he didn’t know enough about magic to question it. Regardless, for now, Ciela was safely sheltering between the three of them.

He surveyed the battle again, painting himself a mental map, but stopped when he noticed Princess Penelope. She was frozen in the spot she had issued orders from, and hadn’t drawn a weapon yet. Link recalled the conversation back at the inn, and he knew without asking what was going on with her. His heart went out to her, but she had to do something, or she was bound to get hurt.

Link moved up, closing the distance between them to stand slightly off to her right. “Your Majesty,” he saluted, just loud enough to be heard over the clamor going on around them. He briefly placed a hand on her shoulder, catching her attention. “Remember what I said,” he told her, making it very obvious what he was referring to. Then he turned his attention back to the battle, relaying his plans to the princess like he would his squad leader. “Ciela’s safe for now, but something’s not right. Bandits attack defenseless folks that they outnumber. They usually steer clear of companies like ours, since we can fight back. They wouldn’t do something like this unless they had a reason to be absolutely sure they would win.” He tilted his head toward their left, motioning at where most of their fighting was going on. “The attacks have only come from that side so far. I’d bet that they’ve got more men to our right, waiting until we’re too focused on the left to notice, your Majesty. Permission to break off and scout the area? I can have it done and be back in five minutes, at the most.”

Link awaited Penelope’s answer, sword and shield drawn, swallowing a few times to wet his mouth. He could do all this just fine, but soon enough it would be do-or-die. He was going to have to kill again before long.

Wind Rider · April 8, 2017

It seems that it was finally time to leave the city, if it wasn't clear enough with Catriona declaring it to those who were in the inn. Sienna headed up to get her things from her room and came back down ready and waiting. As the group started to leave, Sienna gave the innkeeper a friendly wave goodbye and followed after her group. Finally, they were going to leave the city, Sienna couldn't wait to see the forest again, maybe then she can prove her worth and help guide the party.

At the gates of the city, Asura had urgent business to attend to involving his mother. That's a good a reason as any, and with that, Asura left the party. Maybe fate would allow Asura to join back up, but that would more than likely be a near impossible circumstance. The sound of the gates closing solidified the group's leave and they were soon on the road to their next destination.

Along the way, Sienna had opened that little box that was left for her in the inn. It was nice necklace loop, being leather it was very durable, it was nice little gift. The day quickly ended and soon a new morning was upon the travelers, they soon arrived at the Pelinna forest and ventured in with caution. If they ran into Sienna's tribe then that would be a godsend.

The forest was quite peaceful, way more calm and tranquil than the sector, she almost felt at home. Soon they came upon an interesting sight, a red hooded traveler on the road seemed to be examining a small tree. It was almost a familiar sight considering that Sienna was the mysterious hooded figure before joining the princesses group. But before anyone could utter a word, all hell seemed to break loose in an instant!

Axes, spears, and arrows came out of the trees and took the group and newcomer by surprise, thankfully nobody got hurt in the initial attack, but if there was a follow-up... Sienna was already instinctively reaching for her beaststone before Penelope started giving out orders.

"Alois, I need you to get into the trees. Sienna, follow behind him on the ground and cover him. Try and draw out the enemies. Everyone else keep close but move forward and be ready to attack whenever someone appears. Gunther, Edrick, in front. Link, protect Ciela."

She acknowledged Penelope's orders but Sienna stopped for a second. Her senses were already telling her there were more enemies than they could even see... Way more. In fact, she could faintly make out the unusual helmet of a barbarian that was hiding a few feet in the trees. She took the opportunity to transform into her beast form, the embers that circled around her body slowly gathered up into two fireballs that floated above her. If a fire started, she could easily put it out, but she feared that it might hurt Alois in the process as he had found himself in the trees and bushes where the enemies were.

"Alois! Now might be a good time to get out of there, I don't want to hurt you in this chaos!" she called to him before launching the two fireballs in the barbarian's direction.

[spoiler=OOC]Sienna transformed and lobbed two fireballs at the barbarian close to her. She also shouted a warning to Alois.

Sethera · April 11, 2017

Immediately after the strange woman punched the tree, her fist swirling with dark energy, the enemy in the trees fell down, revealing himself as a fighter. It seemed that the shockwave from her punch was enough to unseat him. Cursing, he immediately got up and swung at her with his axe, leaving a bloody gash in her side. Not long after, an arrow seemed to come out of nowhere, hitting Azar in her right shoulder.

Catriona hadn't been quick enough to stop the attack, having been on the attack herself, but her sword hit nothing but empty air. She hadn't thought the fighter would get up as soon as he did. "This isn't looking good..." she observed.

And it wasn't. With nobody attacking him, the archer next to her had recovered from his fall and aimed an arrow at Ciela, though it sailed past her ear. Up top, the fighter near Alois walked along the thick branches to the next tree, swinging his axe at the boy through the leaves. He missed, but that didn't seem to discourage him. Alois' own attack against the lancer had missed, causing said lancer to scoff and take aim with a javelin down at the white-haired noble below. "Fighters," he mocked. "Can't hit anything worth a damn," he smirked when his javelin hit, though he grumbled a bit when he saw the lord use a vulnerary. "Bloody rich folk," he grumbled, his accent giving himself away as a Galtean native.

Sienna's fireballs had caused quite a havoc. They hadn't actually hit her target. They had, however, blasted into the leaves next to him. It wouldn't be long before they would travel down the whole tree, and then to the adjoining trees. The barbarian had quickly vacated his position in the fiery boughs, and leapt down to the ground, the ground shaking briefly when he landed. Letting out a yell, he charged forward, smashing his axe down right on Sienna's furry face. The attack, with all its power behind it, was enough to do some significant damage.

The thief just south of the barbarian leapt to the ground as well, though he seemed to do it without a sound. Without a sound, he also rushed at the kitsune, cutting a shallow slash on her side. The barbarian beside him followed, though he turned his attention southward, to Edrick.

Speaking of Edrick, soon after he had thrown the javelin, he had been rewarded with the sound of a pained scream. Then a rustling, and then an arrow firing right down on him. It flew past him, however, and buried itself into the ground next to him. Right next to where the other barbarian had landed, actually. Growling, the man stepped past the arrow and swung his axe, managing to hit Edrick in the shoulder.

Meanwhile, Link, after sliding up next to Penelope, would spot an archer in the trees to his right.

[spoiler=OOC]

Azar's punch is enough to unseat Fighter A, who immediately attacks her in the side.
Bow Thief B moves forward and fire an arrow at Azar, which hits her in the shoulder.
Catriona misses her own attack against Fighter A.
Bow Thief A attacks Ciela but misses.
Alois also misses his attack on the lancer.
Said lancer throws down a javelin at Catriona which hits her. She immediately applies a vulnerary to what would otherwise be a bad wound.
The archer next to Edrick backs away out of view and fires an arrow down at him.
Sienna's fireballs miss Barbarian A but they do hit the tree itself.
Barbarian A jumps from the tree and attacks Sienna in the face for significant damage.
The thief below also jumps from the tree and attacks the fox, dealing much less damage.
Barbarian B jumps down from the tree too and attacks Edrick in the shoulder.
Link spots an archer to his right.

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · April 11, 2017

Penelope frowned at Link's words. "No." She said. "I can't afford you being separated from the rest. If you do encounter resistance then we'll be battling at two fronts with only partial strength. I'll keep an eye on that side but I need you..."

The counterattack proved the point moot. There was no way they could split the group when their left was in such danger.

Things had gone from bad to worse. Penelope's heart raced in her chest as she examined it all. Multiple wounds. Tree on fire. Outnumbered possibly? She couldn't see all the opponents but she had some idea from all the attacks where they could be.

BGM

She had to focus. Lives were on the line. Their own and many more if they fell here. There had to be a way to push back....

The fire. The enemy most certainly would have to avoid the fire, right? If they wanted to build a solid defense they should try and take position near enough to the flames to keep the opponents from surrounding them. It would be risky to be so near the flames, but, with a little luck....

"Sienna, cover Edrick and back away, Edrick, to me, now." She said, her voice loud, clear, and oddly without inflection. She was in the heat of the moment and all she could see was tactics, movements, almost as though it were a large Checkerboard. "Gunther, the Bow Thief. Link, the Barbarian straight ahead." If Link mentioned the archer on the right she would, with a slight grimace, clutching her tome, tell him to leave them to her. If the archer tried to attack she'd attempt to block the attack with Wind. "Ciela, once Sienna is out of combat, please, heal her quickly..." So far so...this left Ciela open to an attack from behind, if one came. And then there was Alois, who she had sent away herself....There was not enough units to cover Ciela. "You, stranger, with the unusual magic, please cover the girl on the horse...Catriona, the Bow Thief is priority one, we need to give Alois an escape route."

That was all she could do for now. She couldn't be sure they'd even listen to her orders, nor was she sure it was the best course, but she had to try. They can win this fight...With superior tactics.

Gunther was terrified. He had barely moved during the fight yet suddenly they were being rushed by multiple enemies. He was left untouched, which relieved him, until he scolded himself for having that thought. He was meant to be the front line, the guard, he couldn't be happy to be untouched.

Penelope's command snapped him to attention. The bow user? Not one of the axe users then, that's good, Gunther can handle that much.

He moved around Ciela, glancing to make sure she was okay, before attacking the Bow Thief with as accurate a thrust as he could handle.

[spoiler=OOC]wooo boy this was a doozy.

First the actual actions besides commands (which as always are a guideline up to the character to decide to follow or not).

Penelope "readied" and "attack" against the archer but only if Link mentions it to her.

Gunther moves between Sienna and Ciela and attacks Bow Thief A.

Command time. What she is wanting is basically this...

-Sienna attacks Barbarian B and moves above Penelope after

-Link attacks Barbarian A

-Edrick moves below Penelope and presumably attacks the Thief

-Ciela moves to Gunther's old location and heals Sienna

-Azar hopefully tries to keep Ciela protected

-Catriona attacks Bow Thief A

-Alois prepares to retreat through a gap the rest try and create

Yui · April 14, 2017

"What did you just do? Was that magic? But you just punched the tree, but..."

"Long story," Azar responded, keeping her attention more on what was going on around her than on the sudden questions being sent her way. She didn't even bother to check if the girl asking was still there or not. The fight was what mattered right now. Bandits. She knocked a fighter from his tree perch, which was responded to with a new gash on her side and an arrow in her shoulder. Azar howled in pain, taking what solace she could in that it wasn't her good arm. She'd taken some nasty bumps and bruises before, but never an arrow. This was a learning experience. Always factor in the possibility of archers. More importantly, however, it seemed there was a fire spreading. And there were also commands being thrown around. This was real battle then, was it? Not some fistfight in a bar with a drunkard who mistook young women for tavern wenches. Not defending oneself against thugs trying ot rob somebody on the road.

Definitely not. These guys were too coordinated and bold to go after Azar then keep at it when this group of what, six or seven more people showed up? If she was getting caught up in issues these strangers were causing...

"You, stranger, with the unusual magic, please cover the girl on the horse..."

"Don't expect a miracle; I've got my own score to settle first," Azar scoffed back. The fighter in front of her. Once he was dealt with, she'd help the horse girl. Come to think of it, hadn't she mentioned something about not worrying about mortal wounds and swords? A healer? A wicked grin cracked across the Isaurian's face, as an idea came into being. Azar reached out toward the fighter's face with her left hand, fingers wide and open as if to grab his face. She wanted this guy dealt with fast, and knew exactly how to do it. This would hurt him far more than it would her. Not that she expected this to be a pleasant experience to begin with.

Alaina · April 14, 2017

After having pulled the archer thief out of the tree, Alois had attempted to swing at the lancer in the tree. However, his footing wasn't the best and neither was his initial swing either, and thus he ended up missing the man entirely. After his attacked had failed, he then heard the fox girl shout out to him. Wait. Fire? "Wait what?!" he exclaimed. As this thought had gone through his head, he quickly looked behind him to see that the tree was struck with a fireball, with eyes going wide at the sight. "Oh sheet." The nearby tree had indeed caught fire, to which Alois could only think that the situation he was in went from pretty bad to absolute sheet.

He heard the littler princess shout out to him, telling him to get out of the trees which he was inclined to agree with. However, within the trees themselves there was a fighter to one side, and the lancer he had missed to his other. The closest available place on the ground for him to get to was currently occupied by the man he had removed from the trees to begin with, and it seemed that the other members of his party were unable to deal with the thief as he had managed to evade each of their attacks. And then there was the tree behind him that was...on fire. There wasn't really much move for him to actually move around in, and Alois couldn't help but feel that there was some other worldly force conspiring against him. Nevertheless, there was only one thing that he could think to do to get out of the tree line at this moment.

Jumping out from the tree, the boy raised his axe as he brought it down on the bow thief down below. It seemed the man's luck had just ran out as Alois's axe made contact. The axe sinking in deeply, Alois stumbled and lost his grip on his own weapon for a moment as he had landed. Finishing off what he had started, Alois picked himself back up, hefting the blade out from the thief he had struck, leaving a heavy wound but not a fatal one yet. While that might've been a cause for concern, Alois could only feel a certain sense of relief for not being trapped in a burning tree.

[spoiler=ooc]

Alois attacked bow thief A, plunging down onto the same spot. The attack was a success and I think they're occupying the same space now?

Maeriberii Haan · April 14, 2017

"Long story,"

The cold answer to Ciela's long and excited questioning at the stranger ended up bringing the troubadour back to earth and made her sheepishly realized that she should pay more attention to the battlefield - and just like that, everything turned into chaos in a moment's notice. The battle suddenly turned against their favor due to the bandits's terrain advantage, and Ciela was almost hit by an arrow, narrowly missing her by less than an inch. It was quite shaking, but then she realized that Cat wasn't as lucky as her.

"C-cat, are you alright?"

She was starting to actually feel worry when she noticed that Cat was directly hit by a javelin, but the princess ended up using a vulnerary to patch the wound for the time being, and it seemed that she wouldn't like it if Ciela put attention on her now. Especially not when others were more needing of her help.

"Ciela, once Sienna is out of combat, please, heal her quickly..."

Ciela was unsure about what Penelope was referring to since she last saw Sienna was busy burning the forest down earlier, but now she noticed that the protean was suffering from a severe wound. Seeing it made Ciela had remy rush there without really thinking, and after taking the time to ensure that Sienna wasn't in the line of fire for anyone during the healing process and for Ciela herself to gather some of her thoughts, she examined the fox girl's wounds and uttered some words as she raised her staff. The magic ought to do its job now, but how much did it heal was not something Ciela could be sure of now. At least, superficially and only from the surface, Sienna looked fine now. Remembering what the fox girl did earlier and how much of a disadvantage they were having now, Ciela decided to talk about something to Sienna, just as Gunther moved near her and attacked a bow thief later.

"Alright, uh, this might sound ridiculous, but can you burn the trees like you did earlier? As long as they have this kind of advantage, like hell we can win. If necessary, I'll point out to you which trees should be burned."

Wind Rider · April 15, 2017

Sienna looked on as her fireballs were dodged by the barbarian but were successful in lighting a fire that was slowly spreading through the trees. However, she failed to realize that the barbarian was charging right at her along with a thief. She let out a pained yelp when the barbarian's axe was slammed on her head and backed off enough to where the thief only left a simple cut on her side. Her legs were trembling and blood dripped from her head as she tried to remain conscious, never in her life has she experienced pain like this, it felt as if her head had been crushed by a boulder.

"Sienna, cover Edrick and back away, Edrick, to me, now." Sienna could barely make out the princess's orders, she may have been wounded but she wasn't down for the count. She prepared more fireballs and shot them towards the two barbarians that were bearing down on Edrick before slowly scooting away towards the rest of her group. Thankfully, Ciela had made her way straight to Sienna and used her healing staff. The wounds that were visible on her body slowly vanished and Sienna felt the pain fade away, she could still feel a slight ache in her head though, but it wasn't a problem.

"Alright, uh, this might sound ridiculous, but can you burn the trees like you did earlier? As long as they have this kind of advantage, like hell we can win. If necessary, I'll point out to you which trees should be burned." Sienna turned to face Ciela to hear her idea and then turned her red, canine eyes towards the trees, if the bandits were all hiding out further in the trees, then a fire could flush them out maybe even take care of them outright. Plus, Sienna could just as easily put the fires out after. "That's actually not a bad plan... Stick by me, ok?" Sienna said before putting herself in front of Ciela.

Sienna channeled an array of small fireballs as they began to circle around her. "Everyone, stay clear of the trees. Its about to get a lot warmer!" Sienna called as she aimed the fireballs at the trees, waiting for Ciela to start calling targets.

Asriel Dreemurr · April 16, 2017

Edrick was at first quite happy to hear that pained cry, a sign that his throw had connected, and the rustling that followed. Of course what he had interpreted as the sound of the archer losing his balance and falling out of the tree was proved to be less exciting, what with the arrow flying from the brush and sticking in the ground beside him. Well, fair enough. The fellow had a good grip or solid footing up there. At least he knew that now. While he was contemplating a means of bringing his foe down to the ground or quickly scaling the tree to deal with him, his distraction drew punishment in the form of an impact to his shoulder. Between the armor and his own personal resilience it was little more than a bruise, perhaps some slight cracking in the bone, but more than enough for him to turn his attention to the axe wielding Barbarian who had struck at him. He was planning on retaliating, trying to drive his spear through the man's throat.

"Sienna, cover Edrick and back away, Edrick, to me, now." But it seemed Penelope had other ideas, and a quick look revealed why. She could easily be surrounded where she stood now, and their fox friend was dangerously close to being surrounded. Fortunately that meant that one of their foes, who seemed only to have a dagger, had their back turned to him. Well that made things easy, didn't it? Ignoring the axe-wielding man for the time being, he stepped back from the Barbarian and set himself facing the thief's back. Just like Link had showed him, he stepped forward and thrust the spear out towards his unsuspecting foe. Whether or not he struck, he pulled the weapon back and finished withdrawing until he stood at Penelope's side.

"I'm here. Do we have a better plan than setting the entire forest on fire? Good as that would be at killing these ambushers, it'll be just as good at killing us. No offense, Sienna." He hadn't precisely figured out what he thought of the Protean girl, but for now he was reasonably certain she wasn't a witch. She hadn't tried to take any of their souls, as far as he could figure, and he'd yet to see her throw any dark magic around yet. "Excited as I am to show you Inera's power, I would much prefer not burning to death first."

Hakima · April 18, 2017

Link silently acknowledged Princess Penelope’s commands, dipping his head. “Archer on your three, in the tree,” he warned under his breath. Princess Penelope made a face, unhappy, but gestured to her Wind tome and sent him on his way. Link was uncomfortable, leaving the princess to fend for herself, but they had bigger fish to fry.

He transitioned to take Sienna’s place as soon as she moved, facing off with the barbarian. He was much bigger than the soldier, and he gnashed his teeth and snarled as he sized up his new opponent. Link spun his Iron Blade around experimentally, un-phased by the barbarian’s attempts at intimidation. He had seen worse, from people he actually believed could seriously hurt him.

The barbarian just seemed like a feral dog in comparison.

Link took a deep breath, and steeled his nerves. If his opponent was a feral dog, it was about time someone put him down.

Link struck out experimentally with a broad stroke, then took a step back and raised his shield as soon as he did. He was surrounded on three sides; he had to play it safe, and act around his back.

Sethera · April 19, 2017

The battle was just starting and things weren't looking too good. Nearby, Catriona could hear her younger sister shouting orders. The stranger shouted back, obviously displeased at being included in this mess. Honestly, the lord couldn't blame her. However, one of the orders was for the princess to attack the bow thief below her. Nodding, the woman made to lunge with her sword, when she halted at the sight of their unknown ally...grabbing a bandit's face. And holding it in place. What. Her momentum halted, her thrust wasn't nearly as precise as it could have been, and the bow thief sidestepped easily.

Soon after, a lance came crashing at the thief, but that was avoided as well. The clanking of armor came from behind soon after. Seems Gunther had decided to...guard her back? More likely he had noticed Ciela's arrival, and moved out of the way. Without regard for her surroundings, the girl galloped up beside her, staring in concern down at her side. "C-cat, are you alright?"

The woman grunted an affirmation, and the troubadour's attention soon turned elsewhere, toward Sienna. The glow of light blue healing light showed what she was currently doing. Meanwhile, a thud shook the ground as Alois hopped down from one of the trees, smashing the bow thief to the ground as he did so, axe extended. "...Thanks," the lord said, before glancing down at Sienna.

The fox had thrown another fireball at one of the barbarians, and seemed ready to shoot more. By now the fire had spread from the one tree to the surrounding trees as well. A few sparks dropped on the ground too, landing amidst one of the barbarian's feet. He hopped around, trying to avoid the embers and move forward to attack, but ended up stumbling, almost falling flat on his face, narrowly avoiding Sienna's fireball while he was at it.

The enemies in the trees seemed to realize the danger, moving away from the fire, and out of sight, though Azar would definitely notice the arrow that embedded itself into her side. A javelin would come from the tree behind the fighter whose face she was grabbing, but it missed. Still, the owner itself was still hidden in the trees. The fighter himself was far too shocked by Azar's sudden grab to do much more than wriggle around, surprised by the strength of her grip.

Down below, Edrick turned toward the other barbarian, but Penelope's shout stopped him short. Rather than attacking him, he moved to the sword thief, skewering him in the back, his form almost perfect. The end jutted out from the thief's stomach, before retracting, leaving a gaping hole behind. The thief staggered, stumbling to his knees, his would-be attack on Penelope forgotten. The barbarian beside him, alerted to his comrade's trouble, walked over to Edrick, swinging his axe for an attack, but hit only empty air.

He wasn't the only one trying to attack Penelope, as an arrow came whistling out of the direction Link had indicated, though the tactician, prepared for it as she was, shot forth a burst of wind that split the arrow in half, Robin Hood-style. The style was named after the legendary archer of old, Robin Pelinna, who accompanied Augustus in his battle against the goddess, and became known as Robin o' the Wold, later on, Robin Hood. Unlike many of the others, he did not accept a title, though the region he settled in was eventually named after him anyway. After that impressive spectacle, the branches stilled.

Meanwhile, Link had moved forward, past Penelope, so he was facing the barbarian hopping around on the embers. His sword stroke managed to cut the man's axe hand clean off, leaving nothing but a stump. Said man stared at the severed appendage before howling with tears. The noise seemed to attract allies, the archer who had shot at Edrick before, and another barbarian behind him, staring at Link intently. The archer fired off another arrow, though this one was aimed at Link. However, it bounced harmlessly off his shield.

And then, from the other side...came more. Yet another barbarian landed on the ground with a thud, though his axe made nothing but a whishing sound as he swung at Sienna, missing her by a wide margin. A fighter landed next to Edrick, and missed his attack as well. A lancer landed beside them, throwing a javelin at Edrick and hitting him in the side, though the armor stopped it from doing too much damage. While checking the wound, the farm boy would hear an arrow whistle overhead, shooting past its mark to fall on the ground near the wounded sword thief.

Catriona grimaced. Is there no end to these people? Why had they attacked them like this, anyway? Normally, fire would be enough to drive all but the most experienced warriors away, yet they stayed. But why? She set her face. No matter. They had attacked them, which made them enemies. She could worry about motivations later.

[spoiler=OOC]

Combat Progress Report

Penelope shouts orders at people.
Azar grabs Fighter A by the face.
Catriona attacks the bow thief next to her but misses.
Gunther attacks the same bow thief but misses as well.
Ciela gallops over and heals Sienna, causing Gunther to move up.
Alois jumps from the tree and lands on the bow thief the other two kept missing, knocking him out for the count.
Sienna throws a fireball at Barbarian B before moving up above Penelope, ready to shoot another one.
Barbarian A inadvertently avoids the attack, though he is a bit too busy hopping around the embers to appreciate that.
Azar gets hit in the side with an arrow, coming from the northwest.
A javelin is thrown toward Azar from behind the fighter but misses.
Said fighter is too busy trying to wriggle out of Azar's grip to fight back.
Edrick skewers the sword thief in the back, causing the thief to fall to his knees.
Barbarian B attempts to attack Edrick but misses.
Penelope splits an arrow fired her way in half with her Wind tome.
Link accidentally chops off Barbarian A's hand, leaving nothing but a stump.
This seems to draw allies. On the left side the archer Edrick had been fighting lands on the ground and fires an arrow at Link, but it bounces off his shield.
Barbarian C follows close behind, watching Link intently.
Barbarian D lands from the trees and swings at Sienna, missing.
Fighter B also lands from the trees and misses his attack on Edrick.
A lancer drops down as well, but this one hits, her javelin hitting Edrick in the side, though his armor stops most of it.
An arrow is fired at Edrick from behind the fighter but misses.
All the while, the fire spreads.

tl;dr Catriona's been getting shoddy rolls, Edrick's in trouble, so is Azar, and Alois should probably move if he doesn't want hot feet. Link and Penelope both scored natural 20s, and Gunther is, yet again, ignored, along with Ciela, and Sienna except for that one attack that missed from behind. And look, enemy reinforcements! They are also cursed with unfortunate rolls, for the most part.

Alaina · April 19, 2017

After managing to knock the archer out, Alois looked around to see that there was still a large number of enemies still surrounding the area. Standing himself upright, Alois felt heat coming from behind him, turning around to see that the forest was still ablaze, Alois's expression became one of disbelief only to then further go into disbelief as the fox girl implied what she was going to do next. "What?!" Alois exclaimed. Seeing the fire spreading, Alois wanted to be nowhere close to it and looked around to see where next would be a good place to go, which was most definitely the other side of the treeline. As he started to make his break for it, he saw that the south side was starting to get swarmed, and knew what his next attack was going to be. Rushing past the horse, passing the fox yelling, "no more forest fires!" and then past the littler princess. With his axe at his side, Alois brought it up with one big slash towards the fighter.

[spoiler=OOC]

Alois is now between Barbarian D, Fighter B and Penelope. He attacks Fighter B.

Yui · April 19, 2017

"Gotcha." Azar grinned. With the fighter's face now in her grip, and the man seemingly thrown off-guard by the choice to grab his face, Azar--

Thwip!

...was shot again, grunting through clenched teeth in response. And somebody threw a javelin at her too! Was she really this big of a concern to these guys? Were they, just maybe...I might have finally found my first real lead. She'd have to capture one of these guys alive and get all the information she could out of them. But first, there was the issue of delivering a message. Azar Soravati was not to be messed with. Azar channeled a use of Flux through the arm holding the fighter, unleashing it directly into his face. Compared to the two arrows lodged in her body, this was nothing. Then she used another. And another. Azar rapid-fired Fluxes into the fighter's face, feeling the magic tearing at the insides of her arm in the process. It wasn't until she could no longer properly run magic through her arm that she released her grip, dropping the fighter down to the ground with only a skull where his face used to be.

Azar's arm, meanwhile, flopped down to her side. Her breathing was heavy. Sweat beaded down her forehead. She'd be surprised if there were even any bones left in there, let alone intact ones. Without a moment's hesitation, Azar reached into a pouch at her side, pulling out a vulenary and applying it directly to the currently-useless arm. She couldn't fight alone with only the one arm, even if it was only until the other was healed. There were arrows in her, and a javelin almost followed. She'd have to group up with these strangers...but getting to them and helping the fight she saw going on south of her meant nudging through the entire group. Azar wasn't feeling up to that; not while there were people nearby throwing more things at her.

Azar looked at the newest arrow to get stuck in her body, then glanced in the direction it was pointing. That tree then, to her northwest. Azar moved her way up, spinning once as she was within reach of the tree she suspected held the archer, and used the momentum to swing her left foot into the tree, repeating the same process as with the last tree that involved making good use of the Rashido Method to give her attack on the otherwise-innocent tree an extra oomph.

[spoiler=OOC]Azar face-Fluxed Fighter A into oblivion at the cost of wrecking her left arm. She then used ~~both~~ one of her vulenaries on it, before moving up one square to attack more trees.

Can easily edit down to one or zero vulenaries if host says it ain't ok to face-Flux a guy then use both my vulenaries.

EDIT: Edited according to host saying I couldn't attack, move, and use two vulenaries all at once.

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · April 19, 2017

Oh. It worked. She hadn't expected her attack to be quite as...effective as that. Perhaps she could fight without killing people after all. Heartened by her success, Penelope glanced over the battlefield once more.

Ciela had...not done as she had wanted. This was a set back but she could work around it.

Their counterattacks had gone better this time around. And...what had that mage done to that man? Well, he's dead, one less to worry about at least.

Edrick was in trouble but there wasn't much she could do there. If he moved from where he was that would cause quite the opening...

"Alo-" she was about to order Alois between the Fighter and Barbarian, to team up with Gunther to take on the Barbarian. However their own Fighter had already moved to that position. She was surprised but pleased to see him take the smart route...though he did attack the wrong one. Which could cause an issue. In fact...this was a much bigger issue than she would have thought. The Barbarian needed to be taken out before anything else. He was behind their makeshift defensive formation after all. Sure Edrick was surrounded but if they tried to take out those enemies first it would give the rest time to surround them.

Penelope was slightly disappointed to realize that Alois hadn't been thinking on her level after all.

"Gunther, you need to take out that Barbarian." Penelope said. She knew it would be difficult for the Knight but, given many of the attackers seemed to be axe users, it made more sense to have Catriona block off that spot. She would be able to avoid the flames better and if Gunther was swarmed by axe users it could spell doom for the man. She wasn't about to let him fight without backup though and sent a wind blast towards the Barbarian, aiming for the man's weapon.

"Ciela heal the str..." Or not. It seemed the strange mage was intent on breaking away from the group. Perhaps she could not be counted as an ally for this fight. If she sent Ciela there she'd be dooming the girl to potentially getting surrounded. This was a problem. She would have to bridge the gap herself. After attacking and making sure Gunther moved into position she moved upwards, on the other side of Sienna. "Ciela, Edrick will need to be kept healed." She said.

"Everyone else, be careful, try not to break formation too badly, attack only if you have a clear shot." Hopefully the flames would act as a wall and they could weather this storm of enemies.

They could do this. She could do this.

Gunther, upon hearing the request, paled. He hadn't been attacked yet this entire time but there was no way this Barbarian wouldn't counter. And it was quite literally the worst opponent he could face.

But, seeing Penelope's bravery, attacking foes and putting herself in the open like that, he knew he had to move.

Using Penelope's attack as a distraction, Gunther moved towards the Barbarian. He focused as hard as he could. He needed to make this attack count. They were counting on him...He thrust his lance, trying to hit the large target that was the Barbarian's chest.

[spoiler=OOC]Gunther moved above Barbarian D and attacked, after Penelope attacked their weapon.

Penelope then moved two spaces up.

The orders Penelope gave are as follows

-Ciela to heal Edrick

-Gunther to do the thing he did

-Wanting everyone to try not to get too far from their position and especially not open any holes in their formation

Maeriberii Haan · April 20, 2017

As the fire spreads from one of Sienna's earlier attacks, Ciela couldn't help but feel some sort of...relief? Perhaps amusement or enjoyment. It wasn't clear, but it's that kind of feeling where she would be tempted to just yell "Burn, burn them all! Burn this forest to the ground!" while laughing as loud as she can. Ah, perhaps it's just catharsis. Seeing the smoke rising like that and Sienna asking her to direct where she would need to fire at next only fueled that feeling, and the blue-haired girl went on to observe the area...only to be told off by two people in quick succession.

"Excited as I am to show you Inera's power, I would much prefer not burning to death first."

"We can just move away and escape while Sienna torch the entire forest behind us-"

"no more forest fires!"

"But-!"

And then, the reinforcement came from behind and got Ciela to shut up about her idea. And the situation suddenly went worse than expected. The bandits didn't even slow down with the forest burning around them, which made Ciela pretty frustrated. Things went worse all of the sudden as far as she could see, but she couldn't help but feel amused when she noticed that the stranger somehow seemingly melted one of the bandit's face off. On her side however...things didn't look as well.

"Ciela heal the str..."

"Hm? What is it, Pen?"

"Ciela, Edrick will need to be kept healed."

And just then she noticed how bad did it go for Edrick. He was surrounded completely by enemies, and everyone was already busy with their own bandits to deal with. Gritting her teeth, she considered on what she's going to do for once, before settling to try telling Sienna something in a low voice. Her fox form was still quite unsettling for her, but in the heat of battle it's less of a fear for Ciela, perhaps since she didn't think about it much.

"I don't know how would you reach it, but go fire some fireballs to the forest area back there, near those reinforcements. If you can't, just stay in your position and burn that bandit attacking Gunter. See ya."

After saying that Ciela had Remy rush her towards Edrick's position, and immediately uttered a familiar prayer loud enough to be heard by the farm boy. Casting the Heal on him, she eyed him closely to see if he was alright after that, and then returned her focus towards the enemies that surrounded him. They might opt to attack her so she had to be careful, after all. Seven bandits on her line of sight, with five around Edrick. Five enemies, five potential chances of them turning farm boy into farm compost, five times she might need to keep him from dying after he's getting killed. Ciela sighed. She uttered a short prayer hoping that Edrick at least get to dodge 3 and survive getting skewered by two.

"Just go wild and skewer them, Edrick. You'll rise again no matter what as long as I'm backing you up. Just try not to die for real, ok?"

Asriel Dreemurr · April 22, 2017

On the one hand, the thief he had put that spear through was not going to be a problem anymore. That was good. One less enemy to worry about here. On the other hand, Edrick was now surrounded and happened to be the only thing between this lot and Penelope. Not that he would have fled anyways, but that was all the more reason for him to hold his position and fight. He noticed the Barbarian's axe whip past him, and he readied to counterattack. Of course another foe made themselves known. The shock of an impact to his side brought his attention down, where he noticed a javelin embedded in his armor and, if the red he noticed seeping out around it were anything to go off, it had penetrated a good ways into the flesh beneath it as well. The whistling of an arrow past his head told him that yet another had marked him as their target. Perhaps he should have been afraid, but as he pulled that javelin from his side and planted it in the ground near his foot he could only laugh.

"Is that it?" He mocked the three before him, a glint of madness in his eyes. "Is that all you've got?" He gripped his lance with two hands once again, gritting his teeth as his lips parted to show them. "I am Edrick Roransson! My father brought Reginald Nabudis himself low, what makes you think you have a chance against me?!" He shouted, uncertain what effect this would have on the bandits around him. Maybe it would make some of them flee, or maybe it would have more of them attacking him instead of his friends. Either one worked for him. Of course the sudden warmth flowing through him briefly had him wondering if he had somehow earned Inera's favor, or perhaps her wrath, by invoking his father's name. Of course, then he heard a familiar voice saying a familiar prayer and knew that he had a more tangible source to thank for the itch of the wound in his side closing.

"Just go wild and skewer them, Edrick. You'll rise again no matter what as long as I'm backing you up. Just try not to die for real." Now if there were ever words that could bring the zealous fire within him surging outwards, it were those ones right there. He took a moment to pull the symbol of Inera he wore around his neck out, before saying a prayer of his own.

"Inera, eu sunt sulita ta! Vă ofer aceste suflete!" Certain of himself and Ciela behind him, he set his fury upon the Barbarian in front of him and unleashed the first of what was to be a flurry of thrusts upon the axe-wielding bandit.

Hakima · April 22, 2017

Link kept his shield up to cover his vitals from the archer firing on him. This wasn’t the worst position that he’d ever been in, not even close, but it wasn’t a good one. The blaze was creeping closer to him, the acrid smell of smoke burning his nostril when he breathed. Soon, it would be close enough he couldn’t see or breathe, and to top it all off, there was an archer firing on him from an unknown position. He had caught a lucky break with his attack on the barbarian, lopping off his good hand, but that was where his luck had run out.

His instinct screamed for him to get away from the fire. The soldier in him thought to retreat and regroup later, in a better position. The wolf in him overpowered them both, because Garou didn’t lose. When Galteans were in danger, when the crown needed a problem resolved, a wolf seized victory no matter the circumstance. It was in their motto: “Carpe diem. Carpe noctem. Carpe victoria.”

Seize the day. Seize the night. Seize victory.

Link dug his heels into the ground, gripping his sword tighter. Princess Penelope was no longer at his back, but Ciela had taken her place, and she needed protection even more than the princess. They would gain no ground, not if the soldier had anything to say about it.

Still, unless something changed, any victory they seized would be a Pyrrhic one.

He grit his teeth and struck out at the barbarian he had already wounded, repeating the same attack pattern as before; attack, drawback, raise shield.

Wind Rider · April 24, 2017

Sienna waited for Ciela to start calling shots for her but the situation seemed to have moved Ciela back to help Edrick, but not before she gave Sienna some instructions.

"I don't know how would you reach it, but go fire some fireballs to the forest area back there, near those reinforcements. If you can't, just stay in your position and burn that bandit attacking Gunter. See ya." Sienna nodded her head and tried to spy a spot to launch a fireball.

It was hard to focus with everything happening so it was the best bet she had, but with the fire starting to pick up in the trees it may have been safer to go with the less pyromaniac path. Sienna turn her attention to the bandit attacking Gunther and sent a fireball at it. "Gunther, heads up!"

Sethera · May 2, 2017

Catriona glanced around. The others seemed to be holding up. Alois had run down and attacked the fighter targeting Edrick, slashing his side open. Said fighter turned around and aimed a swing right back at his fellow fighter, but missed. An arrow from the trees next to him seemed to be targeting Alois, but hit the other fighter instead, causing the man to howl in pain.

The nearby woman, who turned out to be a shaman, shot a Flux point-blank at the fighter in front of her, before kicking at a...tree? Yes, a tree. Her foot glowed with dark power, and the tree rippled with shockwaves at the force, before a bow thief fell to the ground, groaning as he landed on his tailbone. An arrow soared overhead from behind him, missing the red-hooded shaman.

The bow thief seemed too stunned to move, which was a good time for Catriona to move forward and attack. However, her momentum was halted at the sound of rustling right above her, her only warning as a man dove from the trees right in front of her, lance pointed straight at the ground, just shy of spearing her through the head. He straightened, standing almost atop the recently downed fighter, which he spared nary a glance.

"You go no further, princess," he sneered. "You've made a few too many enemies to be let out of this alive."

Catriona paled. So he knew who she was then? Well, his accent gave him away to be Galtean, which could explain that, but to be so sure of it, to have planned this ambush--yes, this had to be an ambush. There was something going on here. Whatever the case may be though, for now her priority was to finish this fight. Setting her mouth in a grim line, the princess lunged forward, but her sword swing was parried by the crosstrees pointing outward right below the spearhead. The man sneered. "Didn't your daddy ever teach you? Lances have an advantage over swords." Right at that moment, a hand axe whistled through the air. The lord jumped back, her blade sliding free of the crosstrees, avoiding the axe as it curved back into one of the nearby trees.

This wasn't good.

Meanwhile, her sister Penelope, heartened by her earlier success against the arrow, had fired another Wind spell, this one at the nearby barbarian's weapon. However, the gale of wind shot past both the weapon and the barbarian, cutting a deep slice into a nearby tree. Gunther, however, had hit his mark, the lance goring straight into the barbarian's right pectoral. The man slumped, choking for air, and as the knight withdrew his lance, he could see he had punctured a lung. He put a hand over the wound, too distracted to fight back at the moment.

Ciela had healed Edrick with her staff, the glow catching the attention of the nearby enemies. This, coupled with the Pontic's reveal of his heritage, caused quite an uproar. The lancer shouted, "Great Dragon protect us!" while the archer murmured, "Never thought I'd see the day--Stronghammer's son and a healer fighting with the princess." The barbarians grunted and shaded their eyes against the light. However, one enemy didn't seem to care, firing from the tree behind Alois and hitting Ciela right in the shoulder.

The troubadour's words seemed to invigorate the boy they were fighting. "Inera, eu sunt sulita ta! Vă ofer aceste suflete!" he shouted as he lunged into a flurry of attacks upon the barbarian in front of him. Once, twice, both managed to hit, the first in the leg and the second in the abdomen. However, he didn't get through that unscathed. The barbarian had also scored a hit of his own against Edrick's right arm, the other bouncing against his gorget in a shower of sparks.

The barbarian next to Link quickly found himself choking out blood and falling to the ground after the former soldier's latest attack. He started to scream as the fire engulfed him, thrashing around like a madman, but he didn't get up. And eventually, he didn't move.

Meanwhile, another barbarian, the one facing Gunther, found himself screaming in pain via fire as well. This one came from a fireball splashing against his chest, from none other than the resident fox Protean. He rolled around, trying to put out the fire, but soon stopped, concentrating on trying to breathe, which the fire seemed to have made even more difficult to do. Soon, he lay still. Thankfully, his surroundings hadn't yet caught fire as well, but it looked to be heading that way soon.

Their comrades, who had stood in horrified shock, seemed to come to themselves at that moment. They shouted in fury, bloodlust in their eyes. The lancer aimed another javelin at Edrick, narrowly catching him in the side. The thief who was almost down managed one last attack at Link, and though he collapsed soon afterward, it was enough of a distraction that the arrow from the archer behind hit its mark, scoring a hit just underneath the mercenary's right shoulder.

The thief's fall allowed the barbarian to move forward to stand right in front of Link. He seemed to be set upon the green-garbed man, completely ignoring Edrick on his right, and with an anguished cry of "You'll pay!" he swung down with his axe, slicing Link's face open.

The whole time, the fire spread.

[spoiler=OOC]

Alois attacks Fighter B, slashing his side right open. Fighter B turns his attention to Alois right after that, attacking but missing. An arrow is also shot toward Alois but hits Fighter B in the back instead.
Azar face-Fluxes Fighter A, killing him, before Flux-kicking the tree above. This causes a bow thief to fall from it, landing on his tailbone. He does not attack because he is stunned. An arrow is fired from behind him, targeting Azar, but misses.
Catriona attempts to advance to attack the bow thief, but is distracted by Lancer B who narrowly misses spearing her through the head as he falls from the tree above. She attacks, but her stroke is parried easily by the lancer. A hand axe is thrown her way from the tree just west of the lancer.
Penelope sends a Wind attack at Barbarian D’s weapon, but it misses and hits a tree instead.
Gunther attacks and manages to hit Barbarian D, puncturing a lung. Said barbarian is too distracted to fight back.
Ciela heals Edrick and encourages him to slaughter. Soon after, an arrow hits her in the shoulder from the tree behind Alois.
Edrick pulls the javelin from his side, shouts out his identity, and thrusts out, managing to hit Barbarian B in the leg and the abdomen. The barbarian scores a hit against Edrick's right arm. He also targets his throat but bounces off of the protective neck armor.
Link slashes at Barbarian A. This, the severed hand, and the fire manage to topple the guy.
Sienna attacks Barbarian D and the fire splashes against his chest. He dies soon afterward from asphyxiation and the hole in his right lung.
Lancer A throws a javelin at Edrick and narrowly catches him in the side.
The sword thief attacks Link, collapsing soon afterward. However, he did make it so that the archer behind him could hit, hitting the mercenary right below his right shoulder.
Barbarian C rushes forward, slicing Link's face open.
Meanwhile, the fire spreads.

Maeriberii Haan · May 3, 2017

"Great Dragon protect us!"

"Nothing will protect you for going against us, you- "

As Ciela spiritedly yelled in response of the bandit's show of faith out of annoyance, someone had managed to shoot an arrow at her, managing to hit her right on her right shoulder. To put it plainly an in an intelligible language, it funking hurt like hell. Gritting her teeth through the pain as she passed her staff to her left hand, she decided to cast another healing spell on Edrick first as she saw him getting attacked again before assessing her own condition.

Moving her right arm was impossible for her without causing further pain and causing the wound to worsen, and removing the arrow...would be a really stupid move unless she wanted a huge gaping wound she might not even be able to deal with now. Losing three limbs in under a week weren't something she wanted to experience. It's not like she's attacking with her arm anyway, so she just need to endure the pain for now and just ignore the stuck bolt. Link was hit in the face by a barbarian's axe. Ouch. She wasn't in a position to help him though, since leaving Edrick would end up with him being worse off than those turkeys in those big gatherings...let's not think about that, actually.

More importantly now, the archer. Ciela looked around and noticed the archer was on the tree close to Alois. With a pained grin on her face, she turned around towards Sienna behind her, and gave her an order. It was not the best order, but it's hard to properly think when all you could feel from the right side of your body were sharp pains all over.

"Oi, Sienna, see that tree area on Alois' side? Burn it, set it on fire like the other side of the forest. You'll know why if you get close there, probably, so just do what I say and set fire to the trees."

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Fire Emblem: Curse of the Goddess [IC/PG-16/Not Accepting]

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