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

Alaina · May 3, 2017

As Alois had managed to cut into the fighter, the man seemed none too pleased with the young fighter's antics. As such, he had brought up his axe to strike out at the boy, but the man was a both bit off balance and Alois had managed to back off a bit. The axe swing had gone wide, and Alois managed to avoid the attack altogether, which had him get ready to bring on his own attack. It was then, though, that an arrow came out from the tree next to him, brushing right past him. The next attack to assail him was the shriek of Ciela, seeing that she had taken the arrow. While he almost felt bad for her taking the hit, this was soon replaced with shock as she yelled out her next suggestion. "No!" Alois shouted, "no more fire!"

As he put his attention back to the Fighter near him, the man seemed to have gotten his balance back from his misstep and was ready to attack again, only to then take an arrow in the back. Getting caught by surprise by the arrow, the fighter was winced in pain and had his focus briefly taken away. To this, Alois capitalized on it and attacked with his own axe. The weapon finding purchase in the Fighter, he managed to deal a sizeable amount of damage, though the fighter was still not down. Backing up slightly, Alois suddenly wondered where the hell did that second arrow come from. Thinking that the only person who could deal with archers was the girl behind him, he waved his hand across the treeline and shouted "Pen, two archers there!"

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · May 4, 2017

"Ciela, Link needs healing when you can; and Sienna, you'd better not start any more fires! Helping out Link comes first." Penelope called out in slight exasperation. This was why she was the tactician and not Ciela, apparently. If this fire spread too much they'd be in trouble as well. Not to mention lasting repercussions. She certainly didn't want to be the cause of extensive damage to the forest.

She heard Alois's warning and nodded. She could do something about that. Though...She glanced at the corpse in the way of where she'd need to stand.
Gunther, seeing her gaze, grabbed the body, grimicing slightly at the feel of the corpse, and dragged it off to the side as quickly as he could.

Penelope moved into the spot it had been and looked for the archer Alois mentioned. If she spotted him she'd try and knock him off balance with a glancing Wind spell. If not she'd at least attack in his direction. She could do this. She could continue to fight without killing. All they had to do was hold out a while longer and surely they'd give up pursuit? There couldn't be many more than this. She'd have to hope the strange magic user and Catriona could hold their side while the rest cleared up this group.

Gunther had heard Edrick's call. One Pontic was much the same as another, yes, but it looked like this one had every reason to have issues with the princesses. Why he was helping them and why he called out his name so easily only served to confuse Gunther. Thus he wasn't thinking where to go next, and simply took it upon himself to guard Penelope's back.

[spoiler=OOC]Basically, Penelope wants Ciela to heal Link (Which I know can't happen this round) and Sienna to back him up in taking out his opponents.

She also will attack towards the archer that Alois mentioned.

Yui · May 4, 2017

Hit tree. Make person fall out of it. If only it were this simple with fruits! As the archer landed on his tailbone before Azar, an arrow whistled its way through the air above her. Landing just behind her. She had to give credit where it was due, these guys had decent aim, but they were no masters by any means. As Azar raised a foot up with which to attack the archer, she growled "It's gonna take a lot more than some botched attempts at archery to scare me off. This will hurt you a lot more than it will me." Azar's foot slammed downward, aimed for the poor sap's throat, with a Flux coming out of her foot with just the right timing to kick and Flux the archer at the same time. Hit or miss, however, Azar's attention was turned to the fight going on near her, between some lady that looked vaguely familiar and a guy with a lance.

I should probably help her and her little party, Azar thought to herself. I could do with earning a favor or two, and two coordinated combatants are as good as five without any teamwork. These guys are coming out of the woodworks, so I doubt this attack is a whole group effort as opposed to everyone just whaling on whoever they like. Not that it matters what they think will win them their little ambush. And so Azar made her way to the armored girl and her lance-wielding assailant, but not before turning her gaze back down to the archer.

"Do us both a favor and play dead for a while. Unless you want to end up like that guy." she warned, not taking the time to check if her target was still alive or not. To specify which guy she meant, Azar pointed in the direction of the fighter she'd dealt with previously. The one the lancer had impaled on his way down from the treetops. If her attack had connected and didn't kill the archer, hopefully he'd be smart enough to not try anything. With him dealt with, Azar made her way to the nearby fight. Azar wanted this fight done fast. She'd Fluxed the first fighter way too much just to try and deliver a message, not to mention the physical wounds she'd taken from everyone's weapons. If she kept using the Rashido Method, Azar wouldn't be in this much longer. And she wasn't exactly eager to switch to the tome.

"Need a hand with this guy?" Azar asked the girl whose side she was now standing by, looking the man over.

[spoiler=OOC]Azar tries to curbstomp-Flux the Bow Thief in the throat. Hit or miss, she goes over one square down to help Catriona deal with Lancer B, but not before threatening the Bow Thief that she'd turn him into a faceless corpse like Fighter A (rip in hell Fighter A)

Asriel Dreemurr · May 11, 2017

Between his frenzied state of mind and Ciela's healing, Edrick barely felt it as he was struck in the arm with the Barbarian's axe or yet another javelin was embedded in his side. Still, he maintained enough clarity of his thoughts to recognize that the axe-wielding man before him was likely dead. A wound to the gut was a game-ender, and while he could probably fight for a little while yet it would make sense for him to look for other targets. To his left, Alois was doing fairly well against the man he'd squared up against, who seemed to have taken an arrow from one of his friends. That was good. He didn't have to worry about them. The one with the javelins and the archer were out of his reach for now, but he could deal with them quickly enough once those separating him from them were dealt with. That only left his right, and all it took was a glance to note that their resident Night Wolf was not in the best of situations with that wound to his face. So it was obvious to him what he should do.

"Die, and become a vessel for Inera's Glory!" He shouted as he thrust his spear at the Barbarian's side, hoping to take advantage of the distraction that his focusing on Link provided. If things went as he hoped they would, then this fellow would end up bleeding like a stuck pig from both sides of his torso. He trusted the mix of his armor and Ciela's healing to keep him alive in spite of the axeman he'd been fighting mere moments ago, who he reckoned would be shuffling off to meet the Lady of Bones sooner rather than later, still being able to swing at him. "Now then," he shouted after taking a deep breath, "whoever it is that is leading this rabble, come out and fight me! What's wrong, are you too cowardly to fight someone who isn't afraid of dying? Come out and fight!" At least he hoped that would work. "And you lot, why are you even following someone so afraid of a little blood on their hands? In Pontus we execute Ordinati who won't fight!" He didn't really know what the Galtean word for that was, but he hoped the point was made.

Wind Rider · May 12, 2017

Sienna sighed when her attack had managed to hit the barbarian, she never thought that she would have to take a life anytime in her lifetime.

"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." Sienna looked at Ciela, who had just taken an arrow to the shoulder, with a look of worry. The forest was her home, she would be stupid to burn more than she already has.

"No!" Alois shouted, "no more fire!"

Alois's voice said it all, the fire they had now was enough. Though the tree line on the right side of the path was pretty much hidden enough for others to sneak up on the group. Sienna had to take the initiative. "I'm gonna see what I can find on the right side!" she called as she darted for a tree and climbed up, hopefully she can pick out any enemies that the group couldn't see as of yet.

Hakima · May 12, 2017

Link was so focused on the enemies swarming around Edrick, and the fire spreading so close to him that the steel grip of his shield was getting uncomfortably hot, he didn’t notice the thief dragging himself forward until he felt a sudden explosion of pain in his left calf. He grit his teeth to suppress the gasp of pain, and managed to catch himself before he stumbled, glancing down to see the thief had driven a dagger into the back of his leg and was twisting it as hard as he could.

Without a word, Link kicked him away, then ended him with a thrust of his iron blade. He pulled his sword free, but before he could raise his shield, an arrow ‘thwunked' into his right shoulder. It hit the edge of the sleeve of his mail, half-on-and-half-off, managing to find partial purchase in his shoulder. Blood trickled from the wound, staining the frayed edges of his tunic, but a bellow of rage distracted Link.

A barbarian lumbered toward him, mouth still open from screaming. His axe was high in the air, and he ignored everything in favor of charging at the former soldier, his eyes beady and dilated. “You’ll pay!” he screamed just as he got close enough to attack.

Link moved to raise his shield, but then he faltered, the pain of moving his arm with an arrow in his shoulder too much. He managed to lean away from the blow, so that only the edge of the axe hit him, but it slashed him open from his left temple to the lower right side of his jaw. Blood gouted from the wound heavily, and the vision in his left eye exploded in a blast of colors - Link stumbled back, closer to the fire, and almost tripped into it. Out of his good eye, he could see the barbarian from before’s body burning, and the smell turned his stomach.

“Helping out Link comes first,” he heard someone say in the distance. Who was that…? Link looked around in panic, and the forest around him faded. He was in the ground, looking up. So much pain. Was this the last time he was going to see the sky? He could hear people moving around, distantly.

“Geralt, we need to go!” one whispered desperately.

“No!” the other snapped. “We’re not leaving him behind. You can be a coward, but I’m not leaving. Helping Link comes first--”

Link weakly raised the elixir to his lips, swallowing another small mouthful of the bitter liquid. The pain faded a little bit, but when he glanced down, the massive spike was still sticking up through his--

Link snapped back to reality, gasping, with an empty hand pressed to his lips. There was blood all over his face, and he had dropped his shield at some point. He looked over to see Edrick fighting with the barbarian that had, a moment before, carved his face open. “I’ll…” he started weakly, so quiet he couldn’t be heard. “I’ll be fine Ciela! Focus on keeping Edrick alive!” he shouted over the clamor of battle. In all honesty, he probably wouldn’t. Link’s vision was still only half there - at most, he could see colors and shapes out of his left eye - and on top of his real wounds, phantom pains plagued his chest, shorting him of breath.

Picking up his shield, Link moved to put himself back in combat, but he was on the defensive. His shield was high to guard against anymore archers, and he positioned himself to keep anyone from advancing on Ciela.

Sethera · May 15, 2017

Things weren't looking very good for the group. Ciela had healed Edrick, but he wasn't the only person to need healing. Alois managed to hit the fighter he was fighting against, but the man wasn't down for the count just yet, even with an arrow sticking out of his back. However, the pain caused him to miss his retaliatory attack, and he swore, letting his axe drag against the dirt, leaning on it heavily.

The archer near Alois had drawn another arrow, but this one missed, sailing right over Ciela's head as well as Link's, and burying itself in the flaming body of the dead barbarian next to him. Similarly, the arrow aimed at Alois once again fell short, hitting the enemy fighter once more. At this the man whirled around, roaring up at the tree: "Are you on our side or theirs?!"

Meanwhile, Gunther dragged the dead corpse of the barbarian off to the side, putting out the fire at the same time. Penelope stood where it once lay, and attempted to hit the nearby archer with a Wind spell. However, the spell instead sliced the leaves next to his face in half. Very impressive, but not very useful.

Up north, the shaman threw a kick toward the bow thief's throat, her foot swirling with dark energy. By now, Azar could feel blood and blisters covering her feet, the multiple attacks having started to take a toll on the girl's body. However, the kick aimed true, and the force of it, combined with the dark magic, was enough to collapse the man's windpipe, and he fell to the ground, choking. She threatened him to play dead, but it didn't look like he would be alive much longer.

"Need a hand with this guy?" the woman asked Catriona.

Before she could respond, the lancer turned toward the shaman and attacked, his lance managing to pierce her side. Covered in wounds, she didn't look too good.

Catriona jumped forward, concerned despite herself. This stranger had gotten attacked because of her, and this recent injury could be laid at her feet too. The princess' sword flashed, and unlike her previous strikes, this one was true, the blade catching his elbow at the soft part and tearing it open. The rising heat on her back forced her to retreat to the road right after, though.

To the south, the other lancer threw yet another javelin at Edrick, her eyes set grimly. "Stronghammer's son, eh?" she sneered. "I never much liked Pontics, and that still hasn't changed." The javelin buried itself in his left arm, but it didn't go that deep, much of its force stopped by the arm bracer the boy wore. The barbarian directly south of him held a hand against his abdomen, but attacked anyway, the axe managing to score a long slash down the front of Edrick's left knee.

The archer next to him recoiled at the sight of bloody gash down Link's face, his arrow flying wide. The barbarian in front of him held no such reservations, and attacked again, this time landing a heavy blow against the mercenary's shield. In his distraction, he didn't see the lance that gored straight through his side, courtesy of a certain Pontic, though he didn't seem to feel the pain in his bloodlust.

After climbing the tree, Sienna would see what looked to be quite the array of enemies in the trees. One of which, a fighter in the tree next to her, chose to attack, smashing his axe against her ribcage.

Below, Link finished off the sword thief, but he seemed far too delirious to do much more than that.

"Now then," Edrick shouted after taking a deep breath, "whoever it is that is leading this rabble, come out and fight me! What's wrong, are you too cowardly to fight someone who isn't afraid of dying? Come out and fight! And you lot, why are you even following someone so afraid of a little blood on their hands? In Pontus we execute Ordinati who won't fight!"

"We follow boss because he's boss," grunted the barbarian in front of him.

"Not like goddess-scum like you would know about such things," scoffed the lancer across from him. "Boss doesn't hafta fight. We'll fight for 'im."

BGM

"No, that's fine," a voice called out from behind. Catriona saw a skinny, snaggletoothed barbarian step out from the trees to the north. "This has gone on long enough. Come on, boys, let's show 'em that we don't mess around." He glared at the white-haired lord. "Killin' Bazba like that was a mistake. One you won't live to regret, or my name isn't Bone." He noticed Edrick soon after, eyes widening in recognition at the armor. "You--you die first!" he snarled.

And then, one by one, enemies started to drop from the trees, the ground shaking with every landing.

[spoiler=OOC]

Bone (Barbarian)

-Iron Axe

-Hand Axe

Ciela heals Edrick.
Fighter A misses Alois.
Archer B misses Ciela.
Bow Thief C misses Alois and once again hits Fighter A, causing the man to yell at him.
Gunther drags the body of the barbarian away.
Penelope misses her Wind spell at Archer B.
Azar Fluxkicks Bow Thief B, killing him. Her feet are now bleeding and covered in blisters.
Lancer B stabs Azar in the side.
Catriona hits Lancer B in the elbow, tearing it open, and then retreats to the side to avoid the fire.
Lancer A throws a javelin at Edrick and hits him in the left arm bracer.
Barbarian B, holding his abdomen, hits Edrick in the left knee.
Archer A misses his shot against Link.
Barbarian C hits Link's shield.
Edrick gores Barbarian C in the side with his lance.
Sienna climbs a tree.
Fighter D smashes his axe against her ribs.
Enemy reinforcements arrive from the trees up north.
The fire spreads.

Note: You can PM me asking whether your attack hits or if you have a certain idea for what you want to do, then I can see if it'll work or not.

Alaina · May 16, 2017

As the fight had continued between Alois and the Fighter, to a less extent the archer behind the fighter, the man seemed ready to attack him. The attack was quite telegraphed, and the fighter didn't really seem to have the same kind of power and speed behind his swing that he had inititally had, so Alois was able to back step away from the attack. As he did, another arrow escaped from the tree next to him, catching him a bit off guard. With his attention partially being divided, it was brought back to focus on the fighter as he howled at his teammate for apparently having shot him in the back...again. This shout was enough to give Alois the moment he needed and with a somewhat rushed and clumsy swing of the axe, Alois struck the fighter in his side again. His yelling being cut short, the fighter fell to the ground, Alois pulling the axe back backed up a bit, letting out a sigh of relief having finally defeated his foe.

As he did though, he heard a loud yell from the distance, causing Alois to let out an exasperated sigh as he said, "oh what now?" Looking back, Alois saw that the man who was supposedly the boss of this entire operation had dropped down with the rest of his small army and had begun to advance upon them. That was...quite bad. Alois was incredibly unsure of what to do here. While he instinctually wanted to move forward, there were still foes in front of him that needed to be dealt with, and ones that would probably tear him apart if he moved. Feeling restless and needing to do something, though, the boy figured it would be best to get the archer next to him out of the tree, and thus struck at it.

[spoiler=ooc]

Alois drops Fighter C and then hits the tree next to him, with archer B in it.

Hakima · May 16, 2017

Link readied himself for the barbarian’s attack before the man had even finished raising his axe. He was easy to read - Link was kicking himself in the ass for letting the barbarian even hit him in the first place. The attack smashed into his shield with enough force to splinter the wood, the bloodsoaked edge of the axe poking out of the back, stopping just a few inches short of Link’s face.

The barbarian seemed to realize his mistake when he tried to pull his axe free, but it was firmly stuck in Link’s shield. Link grimaced, raising his blade to strike as realization dawned on his enemy’s face; he had thought he was done with killing, but those who lived by the blade…

"Die, and become a vessel for Inera's Glory!" Edrick hollered, impaling the barbarian’s side with his lance.

Link faltered, and his swing went wide, Iron Blade nearly slipping out of his grasp at the unexpected miss. The barbarian didn’t miss a beat, somehow, gripped so tightly by his bloodwrath that anything less than a mortal blow would do nothing to stop him. The only sign that he had even felt the Pontic’s attack was his shuddering, heavy breaths, but that wasn’t going to slow him down.

"Now then," Edrick shouted after taking a deep breath, "whoever it is that is leading this rabble, come out and fight me! What's wrong, are you too cowardly to fight someone who isn't afraid of dying? Come out and fight! And you lot, why are you even following someone so afraid of a little blood on their hands? In Pontus we execute Ordinati who won't fight!"

Link wanted to scold him for drawing attention to himself, but the Night Wolf knew it was for the best. It would take attention away from the princesses, which was his main concern. As long as they didn’t have much left in terms of reinforcements, they would be fin--

"No, that's fine," a voice called out from behind. "This has gone on long enough. Come on, boys, let's show 'em that we don't mess around." He glared at the white-haired lord. "Killin' Bazba like that was a mistake. One you won't live to regret, or my name isn't Bone." He noticed Edrick soon after, eyes widening in recognition at the armor. "You--you die first!" he snarled.

As soon as the boss, ‘Bone’, made himself known, bandits streamed out of the woodwork in droves. Both of the princesses were closer to the horde than he was, and they still had the enemies they were currently fighting to deal with. Link grit his teeth, feeling inexplicably old and battle-worn, but not scared.

He had to focus. He had to get the princesses to safety. He had to… Link thought back to Bone’s proclamation that he would kill Edrick first. If he was prone to violence over sense… maybe he would prioritize people who insulted him over his actual targets.

Link was out of ideas, and his thought process was scattered. Keeping most of his attention on the bandit that he had missed, his shield ready to block and proudly displaying the symbol of the Garou Regiment, he looked back to grin at Bone the best he could with his bloodstained face.

“Ever seen what a wolf does to a bone?” Link snarled, then swung back to lash out at the barbarian in front of him.

Yui · May 16, 2017

The simple fact of the matter was Azar wasn't in the best of shapes right now. She'd done an excellent job of disposing of two of the bandits...but her arm and leg were feeling the price. Her leg was bleeding and blistered, and her arm wasn't looking any better. Not to mention she'd done an excellent job of making a pincushion of herself. I went overboard, she admitted to herself. Any further uses of the Rashido Method and she'd likely start breaking bones. However, it didn't seem she had much choice at this moment, as the lancer drove his weapon into Azar's side, injuring the shaman even further. However, the girl Azar had asked if she needed a hand - as it turned out - would be the one giving Azar a hand instead. She attacked the lancer, opening his elbow up with a wound.

Perfect.

As much as Azar wanted to shoot dark magic directly into the lancer's body...it probably wasn't the best idea to show off right now. She'd already done that too much, and was taking way too much damage as a result. She'd have to get rid of this guy quick, and...

Azar's attention turned north, ever-so-briefly. There were a lot more enemies headed this way. If Azar were in peak condition, maybe - she thought - maybe she could fight all of them. But as she was right now, just this one last lancer would have to do. Azar reared back a blistered fist, then sent it forward, aimed for the lancer's face. She could hear a distinct cracking sound as her arm shot forward, and felt a blast of pain shoot through her arm. And after the punch, in her arm, Azar felt...nothing. Must be broken. I can't fight like this any longer. Hit or miss, Azar saw no option but to fall back from the lancer, putting herself by the sword girl's side with the rest of her party. If the lancer tried a follow-up attack, better he miss and hit one of them than Azar take another hit.

The shaman then turned her attention to the sword girl. "If you want your part to live, tell them to retreat," Azar said. "We're not going to win against all those men up there. And tell your pyromaniac to light up that log and the trees around it, for good measure."

I'll miss that cloak.

[spoiler=OOC]Azar tried to flux-punch Lancer B in the face, broke her arm in the process and really not looking too good right now. Moves herself two spaces down and one to the right so she's with everyone else, then tells Cat to sound a retreat.

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · May 17, 2017

Penelope was somewhat annoyed that Sienna went into the trees instead of helping out Link. They needed to clear out the enemies they could see before dealing with the ones they couldn't. But it was done so she had to decide what to do from here. She heard the telltale sounds of combat from where Sienna went into the trees so it was clear she ran into resistance.

Everyone else seemed to be doing fine, for the most part. "Ciela, keep Link and Edrick healthy, but be ready to heal the stranger soon." The unusual magic user seemed to be in dire need of assistance. But there was only one enemy that way and they couldn't risk their defensive line falling.

Penelope frowned. She needed to stop relying on Ciela for her tactics. Not only was she just one person but, as a tactician of Galtea, she should be using tactics that didn't employ staff users more often.

They'd really need to stock up on healing items.

What was the next step? Right. "Sienna, get out of there, report on what you saw but you need to get back to solid ground now." For her part Penelope attacked towards the Archer again, more trying to distract than hit, and moved back closer to Ciela. She looked towards Gunther meaningfully. She couldn't defend their right side so he'd have to.

Gunther tried, and failed, not to look nervous. They didn't know what would come out of the trees but there was no way he'd avoid injury now. He had managed to keep from being attacked without even trying but it seemed that grace period was over.

He felt shame well up as these thoughts came to mind. He was supposed to be the princesses' wall and yet...

Gripping his lance he stepped towards where Penelope had been. He would do whatever he could to not let anyone pass.

And that's when the battle shifted. A horde of enemies appeared on the other side of the path. Far too many for them to take on when they were still dealing with this group here.

But they couldn't run, not easily. The bandits would likely pursue them and not all of them would be able to outrun them. Their only hope was to finish off the nearby enemies quickly and set up a defensive retreat, taking on the enemies as they came. Penelope wondered if she really could do this.

Thankfully the trees and log would likely slow the approaching horde down some and allow them a bit of time to clear out this group. As long as there wasn't too many in the trees still, that is.

Speaking of the log. "No." Penelope called out in response to the stranger's words. "That would be the wrong choice." She wasn't about to sacrifice a forest to win this battle. It would only slow the bandits down some. Not win them the fight on its own.

What would a Grandmaster do...Penelope didn't know. She had done all she could to set them on the path to victory. Now it was in their hands to secure an escape route. The only other tactic was...no. She wasn't going to sacrifice anyone to slow the foe down. She couldn't...

Gunther could feel himself trembling. There were so many...and he was in the back, likely the first who would encounter the group as long as Catriona or the stranger didn't do anything stupid. Was this as far as he'd go?

[spoiler=OOC]Penelope attacked Archer B again and moved to the space above Ciela. Gunther took her place.

She wants Sienna out of the trees, preferably to help Link, and everyone else to continue their defensive offense strategy.

Wind Rider · May 17, 2017

Having climbed the tree, Sienna could see a large number of bandits still hiding out in the trees. They were surrounded on all sides, this many bandits was like an army compared to Sienna's group. The sound of a creaking branch caught her attention, but not quick enough as the axe of a barbarian landed right in Sienna's ribs. The air was knocked out of her as she tumbled down from her tree and landed on her back.

Sienna rolled to the side, in case the barbarian tried to land on top of her, and formed a fireball above her head. The fireball was shaky however as Sienna was finding it hard to breath, that bandit might have hit a lung but right now that was unimportant. "Everyone... Multiple bandits on our rights..." She wheezed a bit delivering this message and soon saw the massive hoard of bandits ahead on the path. Was this it, was this going to be her end?

No... No... Not like this. Right now she needed to focus, but her injured chest was making that really difficult. She decided to retreat back towards Ciela for healing, it was starting to seem like these bandits were gonna end Sienna's journey early.

Asriel Dreemurr · May 19, 2017

Another blow thrown, another enemy skewered, another left certainly dead before much longer. However, just as Edrick was withdrawing his weapon from the Barbarian's side he felt a splitting pain in his leg and another in his arm. A quick glance at the former revealed a Javelin that hadn't done much more than graze him stuck in the impression it had made in his vambrace. Nothing to worry about there, and a look down at his leg showed a slightly more concerning injury: a cleft in the front of his knee that exposed the bone. Well, no time to worry about it now. The man with the axe he'd thought was dead was still up, so he thought it best to finish him off. Without even thinking he hefted his spear in two hands and swung it in an arc at the side of the Barbarian's head. His strike landed a little lower than he'd intended, and the haft of his spear just below the head struck the side of the man's neck. A sickening crack of bone and the sound of tearing muscle rang out as he followed through with his strike, sending the man to the ground while he corrected his stance and turned to face the lancer who had said she disliked Pontics. The Barbarian was left there on the ground, his head laying at an odd angle to the rest of his body. He was preparing to close and see how her skill with a lance stacked up against his, when he heard something that brought a smile to his face and had him turning to face its source.

"No, that's fine. This has gone on long enough. Come on, boys, let's show 'em that we don't mess around." A Snaggle-toothed barbarian called out as he stepped out from the cover of the trees. "Killin' Bazba was a mistake. One you won't live to regret, or my name isn't Bone!" And then the man looked back, and apparently noticed that Edrick was wearing his friend's armor. "You--you die first!" Now that set a fire under Edrick, and set him laughing aloud like a madman.

"I am burdened by glorious purpose! I will not fall to some fool before it is completed!" He shouted back at the man, while an idea formed in his head. Yes, that could work. "And if you want revenge for Bazba's death, you ought to be hard enough to do it without your lackeys! So call off this lot and step to, so-called avenger! Or will you walk away and die the tenfold deaths of a coward?" He certainly hoped that the leader of this band would step forward and accept that challenge, they could more easily handle him apart from the others. He wasn't going to plan on a bunch of bandits having honor, and while Penelope had not directly ordered him to stay put there was an unspoken order for him to continue holding the line while Ciela kept himself and the others healthy. So he turned his attention once more to the lancer throwing javelins, and finally pulled the one embedded in his side out. He made ready to throw it in the event that either she struck him or her leader decided to ignore his challenge. If Bone accepted, well then he wouldn't be keeping with the nature of the challenge if he killed her would he? So Edrick waited for the bandit chief's response, and if he failed to accept then they were in no worse place than they had been already.

Maeriberii Haan · May 21, 2017

"Ciela, keep Link and Edrick healthy, but be ready to heal the stranger soon."

"I can't be in several places at once, damn it! Get Gunther here instead!"

Things went quite awry really fast. Ciela still didn't move from her spot, as Edrick was still surrounded by enemies. By looking, she was aware on how bad the situation was for both Link and the stranger, but shifting her focus away from Edrick right now would mean certain death for him. This inability of hers to do what she was supposed to do and heal everyone was frustrating, however before she could do anything about it, she saw the sight of the bandits far on the distance. So many bandits, blocking their way. Everyone was starting to scramble and move around, and Ciela herself now only had one thing in mind, her thought slowly reverting to what she was pushing earlier. And then, just as she was trying to clear her head, Ciela heard Sienna after she checked out the forest to their side.

"Everyone... Multiple bandits on our rights..."

"Then there really isn't much left for us to do."

Healing Edrick again with a prayer, she then turned around to look at Sienna and Penelope.

"Burn down this forest. We are close to the entrance, and standing our ground is not an option with how much we've been outnumbered and how they had surrounded us on disadvantageous terrain. So just burn the forest unless you want us all to die. Let's do the nearby villagers and travelers here a favor and put an end to the bandits here.

Sienna? Don't hesitate, burn everything down. If not I will burn this place down myself once Edrick cleared the way."

Sethera · May 22, 2017

The kick against the tree wasn't enough to bring down the archer, not reinforced with any sort of magical attack to give it more force. It was, however, enough to pause the man's shots against Ciela. The bow thief next to him, the path clear now of the fighter, was able to hit Alois right in the stomach. "Oh what now?" the fighter asked upon seeing Bone.

"Ever seen what a wolf does to a bone?" Link snarled at the bandit leader. He missed his attack soon afterward, his depth perception lost, but the threat was out there.

Bone glared at the cheeky mercenary. "I'll make you choke on your words, mutt!" he barked. The barbarian Link was fighting growled in agreement, but his attack went wide this time.

Meanwhile, the lancer staggered back under the force of Azar's fist, his face covered in blisters. Azar's arm wasn't much better, though, having broken to hang limply at her side. He didn't take advantage of that, however, too busy shouting in pain to concentrate on anything but his mangled face.

The shaman then turned her attention to Catriona. "If you want your part to live, tell them to retreat," she said. "We're not going to win against all those men up there. And tell your pyromaniac to light up that log and the trees around it, for good measure."

Before the lord could reply, Penelope did for her. "No. That would be the wrong choice." She shot a spell against the same archer that Alois had distracted with the kick, but he seemed to have retained enough awareness to avoid that one as well. Next to her, Gunther marched down and stood firm, though he was also trembling.

Nearby, Sienna fell out of the tree, sending a fireball at the fighter who had just attacked her. Fortunately, it didn't miss, the attack hitting the man square in the chest, and none of the flames splashed on the surrounding branches. The fighter shook the attack off somehow, tossing a hand axe down toward the fox, which slashed her across the snout before whipping back up to his hand. A javelin came down as well, spearing her in the left thigh. "Everyone... Multiple bandits on our rights..." the fox warned.

South, Edrick had sent his lance through the barbarian's neck, causing a crack to resound throughout the area. He turned to face the other lancer afterward when he was distracted by Bone's appearance. "I am burdened by glorious purpose! I will not fall to some fool before it is completed!" He shouted back at the man. "And if you want revenge for Bazba's death, you ought to be hard enough to do it without your lackeys! So call off this lot and step to, so-called avenger! Or will you walk away and die the tenfold deaths of a coward?"

Right after speaking those words, Ciela took the moment to heal him, though her words were even more bloodthirsty. "Burn down this forest. We are close to the entrance, and standing our ground is not an option with how much we've been outnumbered and how they had surrounded us on disadvantageous terrain. So just burn the forest unless you want us all to die. Let's do the nearby villagers and travelers here a favor and put an end to the bandits here.

"Sienna? Don't hesitate, burn everything down. If not I will burn this place down myself once Edrick cleared the way."

Bone laughed. "If you burn the place down then you are the ones who will suffer. We will just follow you and finish the job. And you," he glared at Edrick. "Do you think me an idiot? I'm not as stupid as I look. You filthy scum will just kill me like you killed Bazba. No, I can just sit back and enjoy my glorious revenge. Doesn't hurt I'm getting paid a pretty penny for this." He glanced at Catriona. "Seems there are more 'an a couple Galtean nobles who want ye dead. How do you like that?" he guffawed. "You're not even liked by yer own nobles. They want to see me spill blood," he grinned, before turning to look at the miniature army that had gathered around him. "Attack!" he roared.

In the brief silence after his order, the cry of a hunting hawk pierced the air. Soon after, an arrow came shooting out of the forest on the right, catching Bone right in the throat. With a gurgle, the man fell over, collapsing to the ground. After that, it was chaos.

BGM

People seemed to melt out of the trees, attacking the surprised bandits with a surprising level of skill. There were multiple fighters that stood out, but four that seemed to stand out the most. A cavalier, who mowed down his enemies with his steel sword. A thief, little more than a teenager, who seemed to dance in the air, knife flashing silver. His feet barely touching the ground, but every time they did, an enemy choked on their own blood behind him. Third, a young girl with a bow, whose every arrow found its way into a chest or throat. Lastly, a warrior wielding a devil axe, who seemed to ignore the flames as he cut a swathe through the bandits' ranks.

"For Pelinna!" they shouted.

Catriona watched them with a dumbfounded gaze. These people were...strong. More so than the average civilian. Were they former soldiers, then? And those four, especially the last, were particularly monstrous. She shook herself out of her stupor at the gurgling noises of the lancer next to her, and casually stabbed him in the chest, wiping the blood off on his clothes absentmindedly.

Eventually, between the two groups, they managed to clear off all of the bandits. Then was the arduous task of putting out the fire. There were a couple pegasus knights among the rescuers, and they dropped dirt over the flames, but it wasn't until a wind mage combined his powers with Penelope to create a vacuum that deprived the fire of its fuel, that it finally died down.

"Phew, that's a relief," the warrior wiped his brow with the back of his arm. "If we hadn't stopped that when we did," he shook his head frantically. "Well, we don't have to worry about it anymore, at least." He turned to the girl with the bow from earlier, clapping her on the back. "That was a good shot, Tsetseg. Knew we kept ya around for somethin'," he joked.

"Uhh, what about them, sir?" the blond sword cavalier from earlier jerked his head at the group.

"Hmm? Oh," the warrior's voice dropped, brows coming together into a frown, as if he the expressive comedian from earlier had never existed. "You," he spoke sternly, "I'm not sure if you realize what you've done, but you almost destroyed the forest with your little stunt." He glared at Ciela, most likely having heard her earlier words. "Fire is not a toy you can just throw away when you're done playing. You're lucky we were able to put it out. Thanks for that, by the way," he nodded at Penelope. "My name is Urvan, and I'm the leader of the Pelinna Patrol. Now, I heard about you guys from Olivette, that you'd be coming this way. Said I should help you through the woods," he crossed his arms. "But, after this, I'm not so sure if I want to." He stared down at them grimly, the cavalier and thief beside him mirroring his cold gaze.

[spoiler=OOC]

Okay, the battle is done, and the Pelinna Patrol is here! Seems the group's in a bit of a pickle though, as the leader doesn't seem too happy with what's happened. Post and stuff. Skaia can also post as Tsetseg if he wants to.

Alois defeats Fighter C and kicks the tree next to him that holds Archer B.
Bow Thief C shoots Alois in the stomach.
Link misses his attack on Barbarian C. He then trashtalks Bone and then prepares to strike Barbarian C again.
Barbarian C misses his attack against Link.
Azar Flux-punches Lancer B in the face, greatly injuring him, and then retreats to stand by Catriona. She also talks to Catriona.
Lancer B is too injured to attack.
Penelope shouts orders and misses her spell against Archer B again. She also responds to Azar.
Gunther moves down and stands firm.
Sienna fires a fireball at Fighter D’s chest. Thankfully, it doesn’t spread to the tree he’s standing in.
Fighter D hits Sienna in the snout with a hand axe.
Lancer C throws a javelin that spears Sienna through her left thigh.
Edrick finishes off Barbarian B and then shouts at Bone.
Ciela heals Edrick and then encourages Sienna to burn the forest down.
Catriona finishes off Lancer B.
Backup arrives.

Wind Rider · May 22, 2017

Sienna could feel a sharp pain hit her in the thigh as a javelin from one of the bandits hit her straight on, the bandit she attacked had also thrown an axe right on her snout causing her to let out a loud yelp. The bandits had all but surrounded the group, was this it? The end of the road? Sienna could barely stand and blood was staining her white fur, she could barely breath because of her punctured lung, was she truly going to die here?

Suddenly, a miracle happened. An arrow had struck down the bandit leader and a group of people came out from the trees and started laying waste to the bandits, Sienna was close to crying, she was happy to see reinforcements come to the group's aid. After all the bandits were taken care of, the combination of pegasus knights dropping dirt and wind magic put the large forest fire out, the conflict was truly over.

Sienna transformed back to her human form and tumbled onto her knees, contrary to what some believe, her wounds had transferred over to when she was in her fox form. The leader of the Pelinna Patrol as they were called approached the group.

"You," he spoke sternly, "I'm not sure if you realize what you've done, but you almost destroyed the forest with your little stunt." He glared at Ciela, most likely having heard her earlier words. "Fire is not a toy you can just throw away when you're done playing. You're lucky we were able to put it out. Thanks for that, by the way," he nodded at Penelope. "My name is Urvan, and I'm the leader of the Pelinna Patrol. Now, I heard about you guys from Olivette, that you'd be coming this way. Said I should help you through the woods," he crossed his arms. "But, after this, I'm not so sure if I want to." They... They wouldn't...

"W-wait... Ciela didn't cause the fire... That was my fault... I'm sorry... I was just trying help and... I'm... I'm sorry..." As she finished her sentence, Sienna fell flat onto the ground. She had fallen unconscious due to her wounds and loss of blood, she needed help quick.

Hakima · May 22, 2017

Link recovered from his missed stroke in time to duck under the barbarian’s telegraphed swing, and then sprung up in that opening and drove his sword through the man’s abdomen. A quarter of the blade’s length sunk in before meeting with resistance. The barbarian grabbed the blade with his bare hands, stopping it dead. It cut deep into his palms, but he took no notice of it, nostrils flared as he heaved to pull the sword out from his stomach.

“Gonna… kill… YOU!” he snarled, finally ripping the sword out of his stomach with one last great pull. Blood burst from the wound like a waterfall, marking the second hole in his stomach, but he refused to fall.

Link ripped his sword free from the barbarian’s death grip, stepping back a foot cautiously. Link was near his rope’s end; his vision was fading in and out, holding up his right arm was a struggle, and the pain shooting up his leg with every flex of his calf threatened to topple him. Faintly, he heard the cry of some great bird of prey from above. It reminded him of House Balfon, of Anaïs and Rohns. It reminded him of...

. . . .

The rain is coming down so hard that Link can barely keep his head up, and he doesn’t think he could get any wetter if he walked through a waterfall. His tunic clings to him like a second layer of skin, causing his chainmail to grind against his chest and back painfully with each movement, his already heavy backpack is so full of water that it sloshes around and threatens to send him tumbling backward; his boots sink into the mud further with every step so that it’s hard to keep putting one foot in front of the other; his breathing is labored and there’s a stitch in his side that sends waves of pain shooting through him with each lungful of air, and it would be so easy to just give up and collapse, but he futilely keeps pressing forward.

“Come on, move it! My grandma could run faster than you lot, and she’s dead!” the combat instructor booms from off in the distance, but Link can’t see him through the wall of rain, and his voice continues to get further and further away.

Link goes to take another step forward but the mud doesn’t let go of his boot this time, and he goes sprawling into the mud face first. He tries to stand up, but his muscles scream in protest, and the most he can do is roll over onto his back and let the rain wash away the mud on his face as he greedily sucks in mouthfuls of air. “I can’t do this,” he says, and his voice breaks as he does. It hurts to admit, even to himself, but he knows that it’s true.

“Need a hand?” he heard an unfamiliar voice say, and Link realizes that there’s another recruit looming over him and his hand’s extended to help him up.

“I can’t do this,” Link repeated, to the recruit this time. He’s sure that if it wasn’t raining he’d be crying.

“Gimme your hand, then,” the recruit tells him. “I’ll help ya.”

Link hesitates, staring at him. He’s never seen him before, but he’s tall, and judging by his accent he was from somewhere in the hills. “I’ll hold you back. We’ll both be late,” Link says, but takes his hand.

The recruit pulls him up to his feet easily, wrapping an arm around his shoulder to hold him up. Link’s glad for that, because his legs are numb from the cold. “Don’t matter to me. I ain’t about to let some grouchy old men stop me from bein’ a decent human bein’,” he says as they start to hobble forward.

Link nods. “Thanks, then. I owe you one.”

“Nah,” the recruit shakes his head, “you’re fine. Got a name?”

“Lincoln Harkinian,” Link tells him. “But just Link’s fine.”

“Alright, ‘Just Link’, it’s nice to meetcha,” the recruit says with a huge grin. Link owes the guy one, so he laughs at the bad joke. “I’m Rohns, Rohns Colton.”

“I couldn’t be any happier to meet you, Rohns,” Link says honestly. “I really owe ya one.”

. . . .

The mountain of a man bellowed and charged, axe held high. The barbarian swung down at his head, aiming for his exposed neck.

Link reacted inhumanly quick, instinctively, swinging up with his sword with all his force. It collided with the haft of the axe, and spliced straight through the wood. The head of the axe fell and embedded itself several inches into the ground, but the barbarian lashed out again with the remnants of the handle.

Link raised his shield, and the blow bounced off it. Behind him, he heard a roar as allies joined the battle and his own group cheered. He stared at the barbarian, into his range contorted face, and whispered, “I’m sorry…”

His sword whistled through the air, and the barbarian’s head joined his axe on the ground. They routed the enemies swiftly after that, and Link rotely went through the motions. Attack, block, attack, step to the side, attack, attack, attack… It wasn’t difficult once they had the upperhand.

When his adrenaline faded, Link’s knees nearly buckled. Somewhere in front of him, Sienna’s did, and she hit the ground. He could see Ciela already making her way over to the girl, so he knew she was going to be fine. He pulled a vulnerary from out of his own bag, chewing up the bitter root until it was a fine paste, and then applying it quickly to be the back of his leg and top of his arm, he moved up to join the princesses speaking with their reinforcements.

The pain in his leg and arm had started to fade a bit already, but he had no idea how to grow about treating his face wounds, so he chose to ignore that. He was lightheaded, but only swayed a little bit as he took his place. He could… He could figure it all out once… once they were out of the woods. Just had to… stay on his… feet.

Link grit his teeth and did his best to stay conscious.

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · May 22, 2017

He was so useless.

The relief that Gunther felt as he saw the reinforcements come in was tempered by his realization that he truly did nothing worthwhile during this fight. His job was to guard and yet he had not been so much as scratched. Link and...and Edrick had done his job much better than he could have.

Link, he expected. Link was in every way his better. But Edrick? The farmer? The Pontic? THAT Edrick had protected them all where he couldn't have.

How was he to stand next to people as incredible as Catriona and Penelope when he was like this?

A craven. That is what he was. A craven weakling who was unable to fulfill even the simplest of purposes.

As the group of rescuers talked to them; he saw Penelope flinch away at their leader's harsh words. Gunther should go to her, back her up, but then again..What good would the backup of someone like him do? No, he had to find something simpler that he could help with. In any case, Penelope was an expert at handling these situations, she didn't need help.

He saw Sienna collapse but was sure Ciela would attend to her wounds. But, in that case, who would attend to Ciela's?

Gunther approached the blue haired girl and offered up one of his Vulneraries. "Do you need any assistance, Lady Ciela?" He asked, his tone muted.

Penelope almost fell to her knees. The battle now over she felt...shaky, out of sorts, and much less composed than before. They were almost all killed just then. Only saved by the arrival of this group. Her tactics had only bought them time, nothing more. If they were to face a group like that again, in the open...

And she wasn't so sure they wouldn't. Hired. That's what the man had said. Someone, from Galtea if his words were true, had sent them after the group. They'd do it again.
They had to be even more careful from now on. Her and Catriona both could no longer use their names in the open from here on out. Maybe the rest too, though that is less likely.

The leader of their savior's words, throwing in her face the biggest mistake she allowed to happen during that battle, stung. He was angry that much was clear. She didn't want to fight with the man who had saved her. His words of thanks gave her the confidence to speak up. Surely there wouldn't be any sort of confrontation at this point, right? She didn't approach him, and instead spoke from where she stood, speaking while in the back of her mind she waited for when his words would turn harsher.

"Sir, I thank you for your help. Truly we would be dead without you." She said. "The fire...that was a mistake. We aren't an experienced group. For many here we've only been in a handful of battles. Sienna didn't know what she was doing, she was just scared for her life...But if that is your decision, so be it, we'll be on our way as soon as we can move again."

As she spoke, Penelope glanced over at the group itself. They were alive, but barely. Why? The tactics she employed always worked when she tested them back home. Could there be something she's missing? Some piece of information that would explain the difference? She didn't have the answer. And that frustrated her.

Maeriberii Haan · May 23, 2017

"It's over? It's over already?"

It was hard to believe. One moment Ciela was hounding both Sienna and Penelope to burn the forest in the face of the threat of certain doom, and now...everything just stopped. Living to see the next day was something she would appreciate, but it didn't stop the feeling from being strange. She looked around. It seemed like it would be fine to leave Edrick for now. The stranger looked quite worrying, she might need some help. Link...what happened? He seemed to be hurt, but it was hard to tell as he was being busy with himself. And Sienna...The moment she saw her condition, Ciela immediately had Remy move herself towards the Protean. She ordered her partner to get down, allowing her to actually see the fox girl's wounds. After checking on her condition Ciela went on to perform a prayer to heal her. She was thankful that it didn't seem like there would be any permanent damage, but her healing could only do so much and Sienna probably wouldn't be able to move around too much right now. Maybe she should be carried by the mule?

However, her thought was disrupted by the words from others.

"I'm not sure if you realize what you've done, but you almost destroyed the forest with your little stunt."

Ciela bit her lips. She knew that, but...

"Fire is not a toy you can just throw away when you're done playing. You're lucky we were able to put it out. Thanks for that, by the way,"

That expression of remorse turned sour a moment later. Why did he thank Penelope? That thought started to make her blood start to boil. While yes, Ciela would admit now that her first prompts of causing fire in the forest were misguided and reckless, but in the end it was necessary - thanks to Penelope's mistakes. That was the rationalization, the conclusion Ciela had reached. It was her mistakes in strategizing that end up with everything getting funked up, how Sienna got this wounded, and yet he thanked her? Ciela didn't even want the gratitude, she just felt that it was quite unwarranted for Penelope.

Gunther, who barely see combat this time, could've been in Edrick's position. He would have been able to handle them on his own without as much assistance from Ciela. She could have been moving around and helping others rather than having to keep her eyes on Edrick all the time in fear of his death the moment she's distracted. Sienna could have just burned the tree she pointed to and deal with the archers instead of going deep and getting this hurt. They would have been capable of mounting a tactical retreat. And yet in the end all that Penelope could do was sticking to a strategy that didn't even work yet still having the gall to order Ciela around while she would have known that she's not in a position to move! That was so frustrating, the entire battle was so frustrating. Times after times she wanted to be able to do more, she wanted to help more people. She knew that she's just a person however, yet the constant reminder that she couldn't help more people like that just fed more to her frustration and annoyance.

"My name is Urvan, and I'm the leader of the Pelinna Patrol. Now, I heard about you guys from Olivette, that you'd be coming this way. Said I should help you through the woods, but, after this, I'm not so sure if I want to.",

"W-wait... Ciela didn't cause the fire... That was my fault... I'm sorry... I was just trying help and... I'm... I'm sorry..."

Her frustration only grew now. Why did Sienna want to defend her? She knew well that Ciela was the one that pushed her around and made the fire worse due to it. She would still defend her own action, but no way would shifting the blame to Sienna sit well with the cleric. She would take the sole responsibility to this. If the group want to save face after earlier, then she should be the scapegoat. But before she would raise her voice, someone else answered him.

"Sir, I thank you for your help. Truly we would be dead without you. The fire...that was a mistake. We aren't an experienced group. For many here we've only been in a handful of battles. Sienna didn't know what she was doing, she was just scared for her life...But if that is your decision, so be it, we'll be on our way as soon as we can move again."

"Then what do you expect us to do? Keel over and die to the bandits? You know that without the divine intervention that was these four, there is no way we can actually win that? And it's mostly thanks to you."

That was almost the last straw. She dared to also follow up on Sienna's self-blaming? Ciela started to regret that she once looked up on the younger princess. Even the stone-like older princess seemed to be better now. Refusing Gunther's offer for vulneraries for now - it's just an arrow, others would need it more and she's not in the mood to heal herself now, Ciela turned to see the face of the leader of their saviors. "You're Urvan? I am the one responsible for the fire. While this girl started it, I was the one that ordered her to hit the trees in the first place. If you have any issues with that, then yell at me, not any of them. I will still defend my own judgment however."

Her mind was still in a chaotic state. Perhaps influenced from the sharp pain from the arrow that was still sticking on her shoulder, it was getting harder to think in a more coherent manner. All she could feel now was frustration, anger, and disappointment. As well as a tinge of relief, glad that everyone managed to survive despite the mess, however that feeling was clouded by everything else. Taking some control of herself at the last moment before she exploded there instead of performing her duty, she ordered Remy to get up again and both went towards the injured stranger to heal her. The intrigue regarding her magic could wait, perhaps. Ciela wasn't really in the mood for it.

As she uttered the prayers to heal her, the words of the bandit leader earlier passed her mind in the meantime. The mention of nobles. Ciela spat on the ground, having a disgusted look on her face. Perhaps they were all the same in the end. Why else would the noble houses wanted the crown princess dead if they're not aiming to grab more power for themselves? The wounds weren't as bad as she thought. It was ugly, but damages coming from actual weapons seemed to be quite less than expected. Something else was damaging her. However, she shifted her thought from that before she turned around to the leader of the new group.

"So, if you weren't going to escort us through the forest, then what would you do? Leave us here to our own devices? Fine then. However, if you were the patrol, may I ask why a group of bandits this massive could pass your attention? The forest is huge yes, but dozens of people couldn't just appear out of the blue overnight, not without how well they're using the surrounding to attack us. They would have been here for quite a while."

Alaina · May 23, 2017

After having finally felled the enemy he had been fighting, Alois almost soon after had felt a sharp pain and thump hit him in the sternum. It took a moment to register, but as he looked down at the arrow in him, the pain started to spread throughout him, causing a grimace to cross the fighter's face. Looking at the bow thief, whose face seemed to be filled with pride from having finally hit a shot, the boy then charged at him. His joy turned into a slight realization of horror as the boy had swung his axe at him. The swing was actually a bit short, but the archer had panicked and brought up his bow to defend against the attack which caused the fragile weapon to snap when the axe smashed against it. Without a weapon, the archer then looked behind the fighter, to see a sort of panic occurring in the back group. Thinking this job to not at all be worth its pay, the bow thief to turn tail and book it. While Alois was confused by this, he simply let the man go before Looking to his sides and behind him to see if there was anything else going on.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a small handful of people had appeared and started fighting the group of bandits. While Alois was impressed that they were making such quick work of them, there was only really one that really caught his attention. Nevertheless, he was still in the middle of a fight, and decided to focus back on it. As such, the princess's group and the new group had managed to make quick work of the bandits that remained, and when the two groups merged, had also managed to take care of the fire. With all that said done, the man Urvan addressed the group, with three of the people who had aided him. The girl looked particularly blissful as Urvan had complimented her archery, but as the tone of the conversation shifted, she attempted to look about as serious as the rest of them had.

As the group tried to make their amends and give thanks to the Patrol, Alois's expression soured as the blue-headed infant opened her mouth. As she finished berating both the younger princess and the Patrol themselves, Alois couldn't help but sigh and look at the girl with an annoyed expression. "How you're able to get off your high horse and still act almighty is beyond me, truly. Bravo. Oh and by the way you apparent tactical genius, I was in the tree next to the one you set fire to. So thanks for that, really. As for you all," he then turned towards the Patrol. As he looked at Urvan, the annoyed expression on his face started to quiver and break. He had seen the man's skill with the axe. His strength. The axe itself. They were all...really cool. And he was almost definitely in the right here. Alois had never dealt with someone who was both cool and right before. As such, he turned his face away, slightly embarrassed as he quickly said, "thank you and please don't leave us stranded out here."

Meanwhile, the girl had been attempting to keep her best serious face on. However, she accomplished this by trying to mimic her imposing leader, Urvan, next to her. As such, her eyes were constantly darting between him and the group as she tried to mirror both his stance and his facial expression. This started to break however, as she took more note of the fire starter. She looked at her, and her eyes stopped flitting about and instead became more fixated. Their gaze started to focus on the tail of the fox girl and she tried nudging the man beside her as she said, "Urvan, Urvan look. Look. She's got a, she's got." With one hand, the girl pointed to the tail, and with the other, she mimed a petting motion. This slight trance she was in, though, was broken as she suddenly registered that the blue-haired girl, what a neat color that was too, had insulted the Pelinna Patrol. The Pelinna Patrol was super awesome and if they were insulting them, then they were definitely not an awesome person.

"You!" She emphatically pointed at the troubadour. "We've got a lot of forest to scout and fighting to do and scouting and problem solving and scouring and patrolling and Pelinna'ing and we gotta do it all as a group cause it's hard to do stuff alone and this forest is like big, big, super big and uhh...uhh..uh." As the girl started to catch her breath, she lost her train of thought. After trying to figure out where she was going with all of this, she looked back up at the group, a bit pensive, and then looked back to the large axe man before saying, "uh Urvan I think I'm lost." Mentally, of course.

LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow · May 24, 2017

"Then what do you expect us to do? Keel over and die to the bandits? You know that without the divine intervention that was these four, there is no way we can actually win that? And it's mostly thanks to you."

Penelope stared at Ciela...she had no response. Clearly she was wrong. Her tactics had bought them the time they needed. It just didn't make any sense for Ciela to react that way.

But she couldn't very well explain all this. Not only was she unsure Ciela understood the situation...well, clearly it would just lead to the girl shouting at her.

So, in a rare moment, Penelope remained silent. Not only that but she seemed...smaller than before.

Gunther watched the whole thing; including Ciela refusing the Vulnerary. And he was less than pleased. Talking to Penelope and this Urvan man, the two who had saved their lives, like that?

He took a deep breath and approached the girl. "Ciela, I think you should sit this out for now." He said calmly. "You shouldn't exert yourself."

He glanced at Urvan, looked briefly at the excitable girl beside him, and decided he should probably speak up. "Sir, you've done so much for us." He was speaking softly still but it was loud enough to hear. "You're upset, and I understand, this forest is a wonderful place and to see it come to harm is, well, dreadful. But please, we might not make it otherwise. We just want to get through and continue our quest. Would it not be advantageous to get us, who are clearly being hunted, away from this place fast?"

Asriel Dreemurr · May 24, 2017

Edrick wasn't exactly surprised when the bandit's leader refused to step forward, but it seemed that intentionally or otherwise he had caused exactly enough of a distraction for someone to take advantage. The arrow sprouting from Bone's neck was more than enough evidence of that, and the addition of forces bursting out of the trees and plunging into the heart of the bandit formation was a welcome one. The lancer he had been in a momentary standoff with soon had the very javelin she had thrown buried in her chest, and without even waiting to see if she was dead Edrick turned about and charged headlong into the bandits. A wordless cry of righteous fury tore from his throat as he rushed, refusing to be left out of what remained of the fighting to come.

At some point the fighting became a blur to the young Pontic. Arrows and javelins ever found their way to him, and between Ciela's healing and his own armor he did not fall. He fought in something like a frenzy until his spear and arms were slick with blood and gore, and he hardly noticed any pain until the fighting came to an end and the last of the bandits fell beneath their weapons. As they finished putting their foes down and others turned their attention to the forest fire, about which he could do precious little, he took a moment to let himself come back to a more conscious state.

The first thing that hit him was a deep soreness in his limbs, followed swiftly by the dull ache of the wounds he had suffered and which Ciela had healed. So while the others did what they did, he returned to where he had set down his pack when the fighting had begun. He put down his lance beside it, and from there began removing his armor. It certainly looked the part of having been through a battle, scratched and dented as it was. Not that he properly knew what to do about that, other than to tough it out and hang on until he could either have it repaired or replaced. Once the armor he wore above the waist was off and set in a neat, bloody pile on the ground, he removed his once more blood soaked shirt and held it up to examine it. As he expected, there were fresh tears and cuts in it which he would have to sew shut when they camped. After he washed the blood out. No sense in keeping it on for now though. Only then did he begin checking himself for injuries Ciela might have missed, fishing a roll of bandages out of his pack while he checked. As he expected, there were only fresh scars everywhere he could see. Maybe there was something he couldn't on his back, but one of the others would catch that.

Speaking of the others, he now took the time to look around. They had gotten through it much better than he'd expected they would, with Ciela focusing all her attention on him, but they still were hurt. The worst were Sienna, the stranger, and Link by the looks of things. Ciela was already seeing to their Protean, and was closer to the stranger. Meanwhile, Link was closer to him and barely able to keep standing by the look of it. That wouldn't do. So with Link approaching the princesses and the apparent leader of their reinforcements, whose name was Urvan if Edrick had heard properly, he did the same. Though he moved to stand between the Night Wolf and the others.

"Hold still." He said, and without giving Link a chance to speak up in protest he tore a piece off the roll of bandages, wet it from his water skin, and set about cleaning the blood off of his face. He threw that piece aside when he was done and quickly tied another length of it around the man's head. "Now, sit down and get your armor off so Ciela can see where you're wounded. And drink some water while you're at it, you look like you're about to fall over." He wasn't about to let the man who'd trained him as much as anyone could claim to just die on them. Only once he had seen to the older man did he turn to the leadership of this now larger group of theirs. "Whatever the plan is," he spoke up, raising his voice to be sure he was heard, "We need to camp sooner rather than later. With Sienna, Link, and that stranger in such bad shape we shouldn't be moving much more. I'd say we get to the nearest source of fresh water and just set up there." He now turned his attention directly to Urvan. "I don't know if we have enough food to feed you and yours as well, but I'll be cooking a stew of candied beets and salt-cured pork tonight. If you can provide something I'd say the lot of us can eat together."

Yui · May 24, 2017

"No. That would be the wrong choice."

And you've got a better idea? Spit it out, Azar thought. She nearly got the chance to say it as well, but as she opened her mouth to retort against this girl...

"For Pelinna!"

Azar watched as reinforcements from out of nowhere arrived. They were...well, they were something else. Much more than this seemingly-ragtag group of travelers whose trouble Azar had gotten caught up in. They tore through the gang of bandits like paper. There was no doubt about it, these people were strong. And they put out the fires as well! Once everything was dealt with, the big guy with the even bigger axe approached the group. He seemed none too happy about the fires. "My name is Urvan, and I'm the leader of the Pelinna Patrol. Now, I heard about you guys from Olivette, that you'd be coming this way. Said I should help you through the woods. But, after this, I'm not so sure if I want to."

"Sir, I thank you for your help. Truly we would be dead without you. The fire...that was a mistake. We aren't an experienced group. For many here we've only been in a handful of battles. Sienna didn't know what she was doing, she was just scared for her life...But if that is your decision, so be it, we'll be on our way as soon as we can move again."

"Then what do you expect us to do? Keel over and die to the bandits? You know that without the divine intervention that was these four, there is no way we can actually win that? And it's mostly thanks to you You're Urvan? I am the one responsible for the fire. While this girl started it, I was the one that ordered her to hit the trees in the first place. If you have any issues with that, then yell at me, not any of them. I will still defend my own judgment however."

After the second girl had told Urvan off and proclaimed herself the commanding voice behind the fires starting, she made her way over to Azar. On a horse? Walking the short distance is too difficult or something? Azar was fully ready to think up some comback in case the girl had words for her as well. And while there were definitely words, they...weren't anything Azar understood. However, she definitely felt something. It was like a slight burning sensation, but without the pain. Like a hot twinge in her muscles. And her bones being repaired. And the blisters on her arm and leg fading away. Azar was dumbfounded for just a brief moment. As the girl continued talking to Urvan, Azar turned toward the log where her cloak was. As she took the first few steps, she realized exactly what that girl had just done. Healing magic. Interesting...very interesting. It would be good to learn a thing or two from her.

As the adventurers back over at the group went on about something Azar couldn't fully make out from here, she pulled the axe out of the log she'd tried hopping over just minutes earlier. Grabbing her cloak once it was set free, she observed the damage. "Huh," she softly said. As she wrapped the cloak around her body where it belonged, she muttered to herself "Not as bad as I thought it'd be. I can probably fix this myself." Cloak around her body once again, Azar returned to the rest of the group to find out what they were planning on doing. She didn't care as far as the people went - after all, Azar had nearly been killed thanks to nobles wanting them dead - but the horse girl knew healing magic, and Azar wanted to know as many details on it as possible. As she got back within earshot, she heard one of the boys saying something.

"...that stranger in such bad shape we shouldn't be moving much more. I'd say we get to the nearest source of fresh water and just set up there. I don't know if we have enough food to feed you and yours as well, but I'll be cooking a stew of candied beets and salt-cured pork tonight. If you can provide something I'd say the lot of us can eat together."

Pork, is it? Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever eaten pork... Sounded good to her. "I'll be fine," she commented, pulling her formerly-broken arm out of her cloak to make the point clear. Nodding her head in the horse girl's direction, Azar said "Your friend over there has some awfully interesting magic. I wouldn't mind joining you and your camp either; I've got some questions for her, and I could do with some food after nearly getting killed because someone apparently wants a woman I've never met before dead." To specify which woman, Azar pointed at the sword girl briefly - the one they apparently were after - before returning her arm to the warmth of her cloak. A bit of food was the least they could give Azar for the trouble, right?

Hakima · May 25, 2017

Link listened to the exchange between Urvan and his company quietly, his sword sheathed, but his hand was still rested on the hilt cautiously. He had heard of the Pelinna Patrol during his stay in Sector One, but he had mistakenly thought of them as a makeshift militia at best. Some of them admittedly seemed on the less skilled side, but during the battle, four of them had stood out to him. A horse-mounted swordsman, a lithe dagger-wielding fellow who could have passed for a wolf in another life, an archer who Link wasn’t sure he had seen miss once, and their leader, Urvan, who wielded a huge and wicked looking axe with an intimidating amount finesse.

Urvan wasn’t happy with the group for what they had done. Sienna had done her best to shift the blame onto herself, in what little time she had before she collapsed. Princess Penelope inserted herself into the situation while Ciela tended to Sienna, and if Link had secretly harbored any doubts about her upbringing before, they were squashed when she began to speak. She was a noble, through and through - she was trying to diffuse the situation, whereas a soldier would try to cover for his men first and foremost.

Link had been the leader and the soldier before. He was glad that he wasn’t either at the moment.

His head throbbed painfully when Ciela started her ranting, and he gripped the hilt of his sword so tightly it stopped the blood flow in his hand. Link bit down until he felt his teeth would break from the pressure, but the pain still threatened to knock him off his feet. It came and went in intensity, but when it reached its peak, he felt like his eyeballs were about to pop out of his head. It was nearly too much to bear, and he could still feel blood flowing from the cut, dripping down his face and staining his tunic red.

When the Galtean soldier was nearly hunched over, forgotten in the midst of the arguing, a voice cut through it to get his attention. “Hold still,” someone familiar told him, but he still wasn’t prepared for the feeling of a cloth pressed against his face and someone wiping the worst of the blood away. Surprised, Link started to draw his sword. It was just a bit over a quarter of the way out of the sheath on his waist when he realized it was Edrick, and stopped himself mid-pull, before he spilled the boy’s guts across the ground. It was… odd, to have someone else tend to his wounds. The Garou did employ battle medics, but ‘officially’, he had no explanation that he could offer them for most of his wounds, so it hadn’t taken him long to learn how to stitch himself up.

Sometimes, other soldiers had helped him without asking for a story they knew he couldn’t give, but as he had grown to be quieter and more distant, that had stopped too.

Edrick was no doctor, and Link could tell he had no real training. He was rough treating the wound, and wrapping a clean wound with a dirty cloth would do more harm than good, but Link appreciated the sentiment. What he didn’t appreciate was Edrick telling him to sit down while there was armed soldiers around, nor the implication that he should strip off the chain beneath his tunic to be treated. His health didn’t come before his duty to the group, and half-dressed waiting to be treated by Ciela - who looked injured and tired herself - he wouldn’t be any help to them.

"Whatever the plan is," Edrick spoke up, raising his voice to be sure he was heard, "We need to camp sooner rather than later. With Sienna, Link, and that stranger in such bad shape we shouldn't be moving much more. I'd say we get to the nearest source of fresh water and just set up there."

Link peeled the cloth off his head and tossed it the ground, stained with blood, and stepped forward. He pressed a fist to his heart, and to the princesses said, “I’ve had worse. Don’t slow down on account of me, I can travel as far as need be.”

Sethera · May 25, 2017

It was an exhausted and injured group that faced the Pelinna Patrol and their leader. Though Catriona noted that they hadn't completely escaped from injury either. A man in the back was moaning softly as he bandaged a broken arm, while another held his nose as he gulped down a concoction, the ugly wound on his stomach starting to heal as she watched. Even the four top fighters had injuries, though Urvan undeniably had the least, most of them superficial.

"W-wait... Ciela didn't cause the fire... That was my fault... I'm sorry... I was just trying help and... I'm... I'm sorry..." Catriona turned to the side in concern as Sienna collapsed, but she had seen the pale blue-green light of healing from Ciela earlier, so there wasn't much more anybody could for the poor fox Protean. Link had started healing his own wounds, and Gunther had offered a vulnerary to Ciela, but the troubadour refused. Then it seemed as if everybody had started to talk at once, or maybe that was her own partly-healed injury causing her to lose focus.

"Sir, I thank you for your help. Truly we would be dead without you." Penelope said. "The fire...that was a mistake. We aren't an experienced group. For many here we've only been in a handful of battles. Sienna didn't know what she was doing, she was just scared for her life...But if that is your decision, so be it, we'll be on our way as soon as we can move again."

Catriona glanced at Penelope sharply. Was she trying to say it was her fault? She was the leader, the battle veteran here. If anybody were to blame for what had just happened, it was her. She had led the group into an ambush, they were after her, for killing their leader, for money, and ultimately, it was all her fault. So yes, she thought, shoulders sagging. It was her fault.

And then Ciela opened her mouth, and started another rant. While the lord wouldn't normally care what this girl decided to say, after all much of it had been true in the past...she did have a hard time showing emotions, and that probably had been part of the reason why people had seen fit to leave the group so easily, but...well, in this case, such undignified loss of verbal control could only be detrimental.

Alois made a snarky comment from the side, which was to be expected. What was not expected was the way he reacted to Urvan. It was similar to how she had seen Link act this one time, back before, when he had been praised. His face had turned somewhat red, had turned away just like Alois had, his voice had quavered too. What she could not understand was why that had happened. Why had both of them reacted like that, what about those two situations were similar that caused this? She would have to ask sometime, though a part of her felt like it would also be somewhat demeaning to. After all, that would be as much as admitting that she didn't know something that should probably be...rather simple. Or maybe Gunther. He had never shown much judgment, and she had seen frequent reactions like that from him, though she also worried he might tell Penelope, that she would use that information against her somehow.

Meanwhile, the girl with the bow from earlier had pointed at Sienna excitedly, and Catriona felt a twinge of panic in her gut. She could only hope that this group would not try and...what had the Protean said? Skin her. Yes, that would be quite problematic.

Then she responded to Ciela's words with equal fervor, though it unraveled into a confused mess, causing the princess to gaze at her with incredulity. Skilled with a bow this girl might be, but her speaking ability left much to be desired. Not that she had any room to criticize, however.

Gunther attempted to defuse the situation, though she could see he was also motivated by the intent to defend Penelope. Catriona felt a brief pang, a silent longing for one Balfon, who she could always count on to stand beside her, except not now, she left you didn't she, and where had that sudden bitterness sprung from?

Edrick's words of making camp distracted Catriona from her dark thoughts, as well as the stranger's replies. The lord stared at the girl dully as she pointed at her. She was correct, after all. There were many who wanted her dead, though...the man had phrased it rather strangely, hadn't he? Unless he was being poetic. And then she noticed Link, who was bandaged rather haphazardly, but more importantly, he had a strange pallor to his skin. He must have lost a lot of blood, and his face was a mess. "You should get that seen to," she commanded briefly, her monotone giving no indication of the guilt and worry that swam in her gut.

--

Meanwhile, Urvan stared at the group with some misgiving. These were the people who were set to stop the goddess' return? It was quite obvious that there was some bad blood here. One, the red-eyed princess, had shrunken into herself after the blue-haired girl's reprimand, and the other...well, she seemed little more than a stiff statue. No, this group would not last.

"Urvan, Urvan look. Look. She's got a, she's got." Tsetseg distracted him from his attempt to spear the group with his eyes. They widened soon after. "By the Dragon," he murmured in astonishment, just barely managing to keep himself from stumbling forward and seeing whether she was really one of them, and if so whether she came from one of the tribes hidden deep within the forest.

Then it sank in that this healer woman had just scolded his patrol. That, he would not stand for. But before he could open his mouth, Tsetseg did it for him. "You!" She emphatically pointed at the troubadour. "We've got a lot of forest to scout and fighting to do and scouting and problem solving and scouring and patrolling and Pelinna'ing and we gotta do it all as a group cause it's hard to do stuff alone and this forest is like big, big, super big and uhh...uhh..uh." As the girl started to catch her breath, she lost her train of thought. After trying to figure out where she was going with all of this, she looked back up at the group, a bit pensive, and then looked back to the large axe man before saying, "uh Urvan I think I'm lost."

"It's fine," he replied, patting her on the head fondly. He had grown attached to the odd girl. "You did well." He turned back to the group, expression firming, listening to the words they spoke. No, no no no, this was all wrong, this wasn't what he had expected at all. He had not thought that the group set to defeat the goddess would act like newborn pups, ready to roll over and bare their bellies at the slightest reprimand. Yes, they had burned part of the forest, yes they had been careless, but they had done so in self-defense. The only one that seemed to have any fire in her was the healer, but she had accused his patrol in the same breath, and her very bearing grated on him, reminding him of those stuffy Galtean nobles.

The man sighed, setting his axe down with a soft thump as it hit the dirt. "Looks like you lot have a ways to go, still," he grunted. "You're going to need a lot more grit if you ever hope to stop Her." He turned to his trusted comrades, nodding at them. They understood immediately, gathering into a loose formation behind him. "We'll head to one of our camps," he addressed the group of misfits now. "It's not too far from here, a couple hours, and we can all get to know one another there, chip in for dinner," he nodded at Edrick, before turning around, leading the way. Behind him, the patrol gathered loosely around the group as they walked. Catriona stopped to pick up Sienna, making sure to reattach her hood and wrap her tail around her waist before following. Not that it would do much good now, but better safe than sorry.

As they marched, the forest seemed to get even thicker, if that was possible, yet somehow the Pelinna Patrol kept to the path with little problem. It was rather quiet, but it was not the unsettling silence from before. Instead, it seemed comfortable, the birds starting to chirp once more, and here and there, a squirrel or rabbit could be seen going about their business. Once, Catriona thought she saw a deer, staring at the group with wide eyes before bounding out of sight like a ghost.

Despite their leader's earlier sternness, the actual patrolmen seemed delighted to meet the gathering. The wind mage from before, an attractive brown-haired boy in a green robe, was particularly taken with Penelope. "You were very impressive back there," he said, cheeks slightly pink as he looked at her.

Others muttered amongst themselves, though their talk was mostly on comparing battle scars, or discussing the recent battle. "And of course, Erwin and Levi were impressive as usual. As expected of the second-in-command and his protégée," one muttered.

"What about from the newcomers?" another asked.

"Well, I gotta say, I liked what I saw there," his fellow said, nodding at Link. "Some quick swordsmanship there."

"What about that one?" a boy glanced at Edrick. "Saw him skewer one of those bandits like a pig."

"And he's cute too," a girl giggled. "Especially after he took off his shirt."

"Or that guy with the axe," observed another. "He broke a weapon with a single smash of his axe."

However, there were two in particular that seemed uninterested in the group. The blond cavalier was talking to Urvan in low tones, while the black-haired thief walked a fair distance behind everybody, eyes on the forest around them, a permanent scowl etched on his face.

Catriona hung back as well, expression pensive as she carried the fox Protean.

[spoiler=OOC]

We're on the move once more! Looks like Urvan decided to help out, after all. Post your characters' reactions and stuff.

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

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