The Chosen [IC/PG-16]

[Alaina]

While the earth chosen had been completely unwilling to follow the bandits out of here, her nerves were shaken once again by the water chosen's sudden declaration that she would go along instead. Having her attention snap to the girl, she felt as though she couldn't let her go. Just because she didn't want to, didn't mean that someone else had to in her place. Thinking about volunteering to go in her stead after all, her resolution was cut short as the thunder chosen seemed to be all for this idea. Before she could attempt to dissuade him, he was already yanking her forward and closer to the bandits. She took a step forward, but being a single step it did nothing to keep pace with the man. As he seemed ready to give her over, to the shock of most everyone in the area, there was a sudden blade of electricity in the leader's chest. Once he had collapsed to the ground, the nearest four to them charged at the thunder chosen, only to be knocked off of their mounts and sent to the ground. 

 

Taken a bit aback by the sudden display of magical power in subduing a good number of the men around them, the earth chosen took a second to get her self ready for combat. Taking her stance, she watched as everyone had gone to move out and tried to evaluate best where would be the best place to go. Despite the light chosen being caught, the person next to him had seemed to be felled by an arrow. The top flank was covered by the archer. The bottom flank by her bird, yet likely not able to last like that for long. The light chosen was injured. The fire being targeted by a man in the back. As she saw the javelin wielder winding up his attack, the girl muttered a brief incantation under her breath, summoning forth a large wall of thickly compressed sand in front of the fire chosen in order to block, or at least slow the javelin's flights. After that was summoned she said, "Ackrin," gesturing to the group of riders attacking the bird, the tall goat spirit had materialized into view. 

 

With a mere nod, the goat spirit walked forward summoning a small belt of rocks swirling around it. Looking to the circling riders and attempting to lead his targets against them, the rocks suddenly rocketed away from the orbit around him aimed at the riders. Meanwhile, being closer to him after summoning the wall, the earth chosen charged at the man nearest the fire chosen who was still attempting to get up. As she got close to him, she attempted to bash at him with her shield, more so towards the upper half of the body. 

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Keres nearly froze as Lindow dragged her towards the bandits. She should have realized this one would do whatever he could to get rid of her. He was just like all those others...The worst part though was his actions took her farther away from the water source. She couldn't use it as effectively from this distance. Not to mention being surrounded would make casting extremely difficult.

 

When she was shoved backwards, tripping over her cloak, she realized what the man's plan was. Insane as it was it at least caught their foes off guard. However it was clear that they would have to fight.

Keres narrowed her eyes at the Thunder Chosen's attacks. When did he find the time to merge during all this? He was more clever than she had thought.

 

The rest burst into action, with various effects. Keres, meanwhile, had to make her own move. She had to retreat.

Scrambling to her feet, difficult in this sand, Keres backed away towards the lake. However her actions caught the attention of the mounted warrior to the north who charged towards her, bringing her sword cleaving towards her skull.

 

A clang of metal on metal sounded as Ayden leaped into the fray, blocking the downward swing with his own blade. As he pushed the bandit's sword back, the lizard mount bit down upon his shoulder. Shouting a curse, Ayden jammed his blade into the beast's neck, causing it to fall and sending the rider tumbling to the ground.

Bleeding from the shoulder, Ayden took the opportunity to finish off the grounded bandit, stabbing his blade through the man's back.

 

As he did a javelin sailed over the battlefield and struck him in the left leg. The other bandit, wounded from Anis' arrow to his chest, moved to attack Ayden.

 

Keres knew they'd need to deal with those javelin users fast but, as she saw earlier, charging them would do nothing but open them for attack. She motioned for Flux and the Water Spirit entered her, merging with the Chosen and sending a surge of power through her body.

She gestured to the lake behind her and the water began to rise in a large column. She raised it up, up, over the top of the two groups, and sent it crashing down on the middle javelin user.

 

There was a crunching sound as the weight of the water shattered the man's, and his mount's, bones.

Panting, from the heat and the exertion, Keres stumbled back a bit and fell to a knee. She hadn't used such force before and it seemed to have taken a toll on her.

 

The bandit that Ryia attacked was struck while trying to get back up, sending him back to the ground again. In frustration he grabbed a handful of sand and threw it up into Ryia's face.

At the same time the second remaining grounded bandit attacked her, holding his sword in two hands and cleaving downward.

 

The bandit to the right of Ileca was pelted with rocks, coming from a source he hadn't even seen, which caught him off guard and forced him to take up a defensive stance.

The other, not being as hindered, attacked Ileca, slashing towards her neck, he only managed to score a hit across her face. However he tried again, cleaving towards the bird's vulnerable neck.

 

The northern-most javelin bandit noticed his ally fall and, identifying the source, moved more towards the north, trying to get a good angle for another shot at either the mage or her protector.

 

Meanwhile the southern bandit, having failed to strike the Draken, moved around to the south-west, trying to circle the sand formation that had blocked their javelin.

 

[spoiler=OOC]Time to try and summarize this. First.

[spoiler=Before this post]

 

Now the actions in THIS post are...

[spoiler=After this post]

 

Basically...

-Ayden killed D, got shoulder injury and leg hit by Javelin and has C coming for him

-Keres killed H

-F, Still on ground, threw sand at Ryia and E attacked her

-B was distracted, A injured Ileca and is going for a kill

G and I adjusted position

 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

It had felt like an eternity since the last time Ileca felt that she was being in a mortal threat. Her earlier reckless charge failed to nail either of the lizard-rider, and now she was being flanked by the two, narrowly avoiding being attacked while not having much room to attack back. It was quite a bother, but the bird was clearly finding this development to be interesting, and for once, she chose to not blindly attack either riders. Caught in a position where she could not run away or attack either due to risk of either rider backstabbing her, Ileca simply chose to showcase her surprising agility and reflex at dodging the slashes aimed to keep her zoned. Some of them ruffled her feathers, yes. Ileca thought that fixing her top-class royal feathers would be one of the things Anis owed her once the battle was over.

 

The dance between her and the lizard riders was interrupted by a pebble throw, distracting the other rider. Ileca however thought that the impact sound felt like a javelin being thrown, and was distracted by it, earning her a slash across her face. It wasn't deep and missed her eyes, but damn did it feel painful. The blood from it felt like it would blind her eyes soon too. While she narrowly avoided the sword being planted on her face, she noticed that the rider was striking again, and by that point, she fully acted on her instincts and rushed forward. As the sword being swung towards her unprotected neck, she turned around to grip the attacker's arm using her beaks, and as she keep piling on pressure into the grip, she attempted to pull out the rider out of his mount in one powerful pull. Were she was successful in doing so, she would focus on starting a continuous assault on the grounded man, but otherwise she would attempt to disarm him, crushing his hand if she could.

 

---

 

Anis noticed that Ileca's situation was starting to become more concerning after she made sure about her shots earlier, and turned to see her partner being struck in the face. Maintaining her focus in this dire situation, Anis loaded her arrow, and fired a shot towards the man, and prepared to fire more shots until she realized that Ileca was trying to pull the man off his lizard now, and it made it hard for her to aim. Not being able to do much else about Ileca's attacker, she chose to aim towards the other rider that was nearby, as he was still being distracted by something. She fired two shots towards him, hopefully hitting both him in the chest area and his mount.

 

"...Shirin, I know you're still nearby. Now go and try proving to me that you're useful!"

 

There was no way Anis could keep on maintaining her role now, especially since she was running out of arrows now. Only four shots left, and the enemy were still numerous. She needed more help, and Shirin was perfect for it. She knew that the snake spirit was in its physical form now, and she also knew that it's only a temporary construct. Which meant...she could easily overcharge it and not care about the aftermath. It was something she had thought for a while, and the closest she would consider as her channeling the snake. Enchanting one of her arrows, she then shot it towards the snake once she noticed its exact presence, which grew into a bigger and bigger size, ending up being the size of the lizard mounts of the riders.

 

Shirin, annoyed that Anis shot it but understood what it needed to do, slithered across the battlefield and lunged towards one of the javelin throwers on the distance.

 

---

[Sethera]

It was as if a whirlwind was going on around her. Gilly looked around, noticing that all of her friends...were completely awesome! And heroic! Just like she was! Now she only had to join in the fun.

 

She was about to try and help the birdie, when the birdie showed that it could take care of itself. Well then, next up was the next nearest fighter. Which was...there! That man on the mount off in the distance. Was he trying to run away? He didn't seem injured, but Gilly would change that. Charging forward, she let out a war cry as she aimed with her ice spear. Hopefully it would hit and then the guy would be dead or injured and then wouldn't she be just so awesome?

 

Hob had been standing back from the fighting, guarding nice boot girl. He hadn't really understood what was going on, but he did know he didn't like seeing nice boot girl go toward that man with the bad smile. He was dead now, though, but there might be more men with bad smiles out there. However, at seeing Gilly run forward, he followed her, hoping he'd make it in time to prevent her from doing something stupid. Like attack a person on a mount without a mount of her own. Overtaking her, he nudged the halfling up onto his back, and the two charged forward as a pair.

 

Astride her own mount, Gilly found that, while she wasn't as tall as the other guy, she was tall enough she could actually hit him now, unlike before. So she stabbed out with her spear. Of course she remembered to use her awesome shield in case the guy decided to fight back, and he probably would, being a meanie. "This is what you get for being a bunch of meaniebutts!" she cried out as she attacked. Meanwhile, Hob headbutted the lizard mount in the face.

[Ren✧]

Kha should've anticipated the bandit to reach up and grab him, but he had been too absorbed in protecting the other Chosen to give it much thought. Stumbling in his charge, he turned to stomp the life out of his attacker. However, before he could, he felt a vicious pain rear up in his side. A strangled cry escaped his throat as he fell to one knee in the sand. The javelin had tore through his left side, just below his rib cage. Kha gingerly touched the wound, his hand coming away bloody. He let out another sound of pain, this one more of a low grumble than a cry. 

 

"Now that does not look good." Kal'bri stated her luminescent form fluttering not too far from the entry point of the javelin. "Pretty dumb to just charge in like that, don't you think?" She asked.

 

Kha rolled his eyes. Of course, now she showed up. Granted, he did need her, but putting up with her incessant verbal berating was growing quite old. He did not, however, have the time at the moment to deal with her. Even though the man beneath him was dead, thanks to a well placed arrow by Anis, there were still a man within striking distance of himself. With a shaky breath, Kha pulled the javelin from his side, blood now welling from the wound. With a huge amount of effort, Kha kept a firm grasp on his sword and pushed upwards with his legs, raising from his kneeled position in addition to aiming to stab the bandit through the chest with the massive sword.

 

Hearing a cry of pain, Kha's attention was drawn behind him. Ayden had managed to kill one of the bandits but had been severely wounded in the process. "That boy is pretty, but he does get hurt a lot." Kal'bri said, her tone not showing too much concern. Growling through the pain, Kha raised the javelin he had been speared with over his head and threw it towards the bandit that was advancing on Ayden, putting as much effort as he could behind it. 

 

"Merge with me, I need to be healed." Kha said raggedly, his free hand on his wound.

 

"Hmm..."

 

"Kal'bri!!!" 

 

"You haven't been very respectful lately. The whole reason I chose you is because you were so respectful."

 

Through gritted teeth, Kha dredged up an apology for the Light Spirit. "I apologize holy spirit. You're graciousness knows no bounds, I shall echo the tales of your kindness for as long as I live." 

 

"And so you shall..." In a flash of light, Kal'bri disappeared, merging with the orc. 

[Andx]

The Fire Chosen's attacks found their marks as the man he assaulted was helpless to stop the Draken from pouncing on him. Reinaan's fire claws pierced through the man's back, stabbing and burning important organs on the way through. He kept driving the attack until his own claws entered the wounds effectively insuring the claws of flame had pierced him through entirely. Combined with his spear digging into the back of the man's neck there was little else to do. Reinaan pulled his hand and spear out and retracted the fire claws for the time being. He'd need them again but keeping them out too long invited more internal burns. There was a certain thrill rushing through his body from the kill. It was something like the hunts back home. But there was no time to dwell on the feeling. Reinaan's attention shifted to the javelin which had been thrown at him. One look was all he needed. He wasn't going to be able to dodge, it would land squarely in his stomach. It was all he could do to brace himself. His eyes closed in response and yet nothing came. No pain and upon opening an eye to check, no javelin in his abdomen. A wall of sand had appeared and absorbed the blow.

 

The Draken looked around to see the Chosen of Earth had protected him. He stared at the girl for a moment with a sense of admiration from her performance in the few battles they'd been in together so far. "She's really strong." passed through the young boy's mind. But there was no time to remain distracted. The battle was still moving quickly and no one was safe for long.

 

Ileca's attack on her assailant had proved successful. The power of her beak had broken the man's arm. With a shout of pain the man used his other hand and began to punch the bird in the face over and over again. A constant barrage to get the creature off of him. His companion nearby who had been attempting to flank the bird with him moved to his aid. But he had taken note of Anis' arrows launched his way. Quickly he maneuvered his mount to move up and the arrow's landed in the creature instead of him. The large lizard dropped to the ground and the rider dismounted, looking to continue on foot. Shirin at this point had become an enormous snake and had been launched at the northern javelin wielder. Reinaan made another mental note to ask Ziiyol about doing something cool like that after. The man was admittedly alarmed to see such a thing coming his way but kept his wits about him enough to quickly maneuver out of the snake's path, effectively dodging the assault. The man eyed the Chosen of Darkness and launched his javelin towards the man. He then drew his sword and turned his attention back to Shirin.

 

Kha while injured was still on the offensive. The Orc had managed to tear the javelin that had injured him from his side. And while he seemed to throw it with great might, the aim simply wasn't there. It veered off to the side of its target hitting no one. This left the man with the arrow injury to the chest free to continue his assault on Ayden. However the man the Light Chosen then next assaulted was not so fortunate. His large sword pierced through the man's chest. There had been a cry of pain but then mostly shock. But the Orc's worries would not be over yet. The man Ryia had bashed just previously made a move. He had begun crouching. After a moment he lunged out attempting to tackle the Light Chosen to the ground.

 

Meanwhile the Ice Chosen had been largely ignored by the bandits. A halfling was hardly the worst of their worries given what had happened thus far. But now she had approached the southern javelin user atop her own mount. Gilly's cries and flailing of her weapon caught his attention and so he threw his javelin off in Reinaan's direction and then drew his sword to begin parrying the girl's blows.

 

The young Draken took in the chaos well enough but focused on what was happening nearest him. Kha needed help but had others closer to him. The Nature Chosen's bird companion seemed to be in need of assistance. And Gilly could hopefully hold her own against the javelin user. Speaking of javelins Reinaan saw the man throw one before Gilly arrived to engage him. It didn't take long to realize it was on course to hit him. The lizard boy reacted without thinking. With a yell he jumped off the side in the direction of the man who had used his mount to guard himself from Anis' arrows. He twirled through the air a bit as he did, his tail just barely missing the javelin as it passed by. Unfortunately this now meant the weapon was on course to hit Ryia.

 

The boy's maneuver landed him face first on the ground and gave him a mouth full of sand. A rather unpleasant experience but he hadn't been hurt that was something. After coughing and attempting to spit the sand out of his mouth Reinaan rolled over onto his back before attempting to stand. However before he could there was something else to worry about. He had landed right next to the lizard which was now injured. Understandably it wasn't exactly happy at the moment with arrows stuck in it and having dirt kicked up near it angered the creature. It turned to Reinaan and lashed out at him to bite him. The boy saw her attacking, odd of him to notice something like that in the middle of all this, and readied himself as best he could. It wouldn't be the first time he'd been on his back with some creature trying to kill him but no experience with it ever seemed to make the next one easier. Still on the ground he threw his legs up in an attempt to hold the creature back with his feet. The neck of the creature was long so even if his legs connected with her chest it wouldn't do much to stop her actual attack. Reinaan dropped the spear in his right hand and readied both hands to attempt to catch the creatures mouth, and hopefully shut it. And even if that all went according to plan he'd have to hope he had the strength to throw her off him.

 

"I don't want to kill her" flashed across the boy's mind in this instant. Odd considering she was much more in a position to kill him at the moment than he was her. But he honestly felt bad about it all. This creature had simply been doing what it was trained to do. And without being injured it likely wouldn't be trying to kill him now. If he could get the arrows out of her perhaps she'd calm down.

[Hälō]

Lindow panted violently as the battled raged on all around him. "S-So that's about my limit, eh?" Having been brought to his knees from the extensive use of lighting magic, the witch hunter took a moment to note the bounds of his strength before reaching into his pouch and grabbing a star shaped herb with red markings across it's leafs. Popping the herb into his mouth, the man began grinding it between his teeth before swallowing the bitter tasting paste whole.

 

The effects were almost instant. Overtaken by a sudden rush of adrenaline, Lindow brought himself to his feet and hastily surveyed his surroundings. Setting his sights the bandit that moved towards Kha, Lindow drew his dagger and broke off into a sprint. With a grunt, the Lighting Chosen roughly intercepted the other man from the side, just before he met the Chosen of Light. 

 

With his dagger now lodged painfully in the bandit's side, Lindow knelt with his weight atop his victim's chest. Though before he could finish the job, the bandit began to struggle and proceeded to jam a handful of sand into Lindow's face. Instinctively closing his good eye, Lindow let loose a growl before opening his mouth and bitting down into the bandit's palm, filling mouth with blood and sand as he attempted to hammer at the bandit's face with his scimitar. 

 

 

"Dammit..." Lindow thought to himself as he struggled to get the proper angle to do any serious damage with his blows. He could feel rage building in the pit of his stomach as the cocktail of blood and sand continued to be pushed into his mouth, making it hard to breath. It was only a matter of time before he suffocated...

 

Finally giving up on his attempt to bash his foe's face in after several painful moments of struggle, Lindow quickly dropped his sword and grabbed on to the base of the other man's arm with his surprising strength. Tightening his grip on his dagger, Lindow violently yanked the blade free from the man's ribs and began savagely plunging his blade into the man's body over and over again.

 

After the first few stabs, Lindow could feel the man beginning to stop resisting. Grinning wildly Lindow began to cackle as he continued to shank his opposition.

[Alaina]

As the girl had managed to successfully shove the bandit in front of her down to the ground, the girl tried to assess the rest of the situation around her. However as she attempted this, she saw that the bandit she had toppled had a fistful of sand, throwing it at her. While she noticed it in time to close her eyes, she still had to recoil back from it, and as such, didn't have the best reaction time to the man to her side attempting to attack her. While the man seemed about ready to attack her, a large blade came protruding out of his sternum, the man falling over dead. 

 

While she had recovered from the sand attack, she look around quickly to see what was going on. While the battlefield was more or less a mess and that each and every person seemed to be dealing with their own bandit individually, it did not seem to be as horrible a state as it was against the shark. Instead, they seemed to have things relatively under control in this scenario. While the girl was free to assist anyone, she had to think quick and choose quicker as to what she would reasonably be able to do. 

 

While she noticed a javelin soaring through the air, without the ability to recast her wall at this moment she was unable to do much about it. The ice chosen seemed to be preoccupied in a very odd looking mounted battle, with another of the mounted ones being occupied with a snake spirit. There was an injured man near the dark chosen, yet he was in both his and the water chosen's effective ranges and could likely be handled. Then there was the bird mount who was dealing with two, three if counting one of the lizards, by themselves. In addition to that, the rider of one of the lizards was near the fire chosen, who was preoccupied with the mount itself. Noting that bandit was in a dangerous position she knew what to do. With a quick glance to the bandit in melee with the ice chosen, the girl simply said, "Ackrin." 

 

"Understood." In response to the girl's words, the tall goat had re-positioned itself to fire be both in firing range of the bandit and at an angle to try and not disrupt the ice chosen. With another surge of magic around it, a satellite of rocks was created around it, being then fired at the bandit and its mount. The earth chosen, drawing her mace, charged towards the unmounted bandit swinging at his side with her weapon. 

 

[spoiler=tldr]

Ryia attacked B 

Ackrin attacked I.

 

 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Ileca gripped on the attacker's arm as hard as she could with her beak, not willing to let him go with as much determination as the bandit's determination to not let Ileca drag him away from his mount. It lasted for a few moments before the sound of bones cracking could be heard, and the clanging sound of a sword being dropped could be heard. She was successful in disarming the attacker! However, distracted by the momentary joy, Ileca could not defend herself as the man started to punch her repeatedly in her face, hitting her eyes and the gaping wound there and making it hurt much more. Screeching in pain, she let go of her hold from the man's hand in shock, but the man continued to hit her. Her focus had decreased, it was harder for her to see her opponent. However, Ileca was still capable of fighting. Without her being held by the bandit, she finally chose to duck, and with her beak, gripped at the sword that had been dropped by the bandit. She then swung it towards the bandit and his mount with reckless abandon, her body's movement being more fueled by the pain she was currently feeling. Like a berserker, she charged at her opponent with the sword, her strong grip on it ensuring that the man couldn't just wrestle it from her.

 

 

"Kwaaaaaaaa! (You're dead meat now!)"

 

---

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

Ayden cursed as the javelin nearly impaled him. He managed to step to the side to avoid it but, in his haste, stumbled over the sand. The bandit in front of him, after dodging the Orc's javelin, pressed towards him.

Keres took notice of this and forced herself up, gathering enough magic to form another, smaller, column of water.

While she did this the bandit attacked Ayden, slashing across towards his neck. Ayden, still stumbling, managed to bring his heavy blade up to block the slash.

The bandit, however, anticipating this, swiftly disengaged, not putting his full force into the attack, and pulled his sword back before thrusting it forward, upward into Ayden's abdomen.

The Dark Chosen gasped and clutched at the wound as blood began to leak from the hole.

Keres's eyes widened in shock as she threw the water at the bandit, knocking him several feet away and into the lake.

The bandit's sword pulled free from Ayden but it was clear the wound had pierced something important, from the way Ayden fell to his knees, staring at the wound wordlessly, mouth gaped open.

 

The bandit that Lindow had taken down wasn't resisting much more as the Thunder Chosen, almost maniacally, stabbed him over and over. The bandit attempted to fight him off, reaching up and hooking his finger into Lindow's mouth and pulling, but it wouldn't be long before his eyes glazed over and death overtook him.

 

Shirin would find that the bandit he came to challenge was a lot less startled than one would normally be in the face of a sudden large snake creature. He ordered his lizard forward, moving towards the right side of the snake and swinging his sword down towards Shirin's mouth, aiming to cut through the middle of it.

 

As Hob connected with the lizard mount, it seemed to be momentarily stunned. Thus it didn't react to Gilly thrusting her spear towards its rider. The bandit knocked the, poorly aimed, attack to the side and slashed at Gilly, only to meet her shield. Annoyed, the bandit taunted "I'm not going to lose to a tiny wanna-be hero." as he slashed again, downward while reaching into a pocket with his other hand.

By now the lizard had recovered and turned its neck to try and bite down on Hob's face. However the Earth Spirit's attack, not quite as well aimed as desired due to the moving the two were doing, struck the lizard in the face, pelting it with stones and dazing it once more.

 

The lizard that Reinaan was wrestling with could no longer bite down, as their mouth was being shut by the Draken's claws. However this didn't stop her from moving forward and trying to slam her body on top of the smaller "lizard".

 

The bandit that Ryia attacked didn't see her coming and didn't do anything to block the mace-swing, which struck him in the head. However it wasn't a killing blow and the bandit turned his attention to the girl. "Gonna be like that, eh, lass? Fine by me, feisty is good too." He thrust towards the girl's face, intending to stab his blade through her eye.

 

As the bird drew her sword and charged the last bandit let out a scream. "WHAT IS THIS CRAZY THING?" spurring his mount to move he tried to get away from Ileca, while sheathing his blade and pulling a javelin out. Turning slightly, he tossed the javelin in Ileca's direction, banking on her blind charge to run her straight into the projectile.

[spoiler=OOC][spoiler=Before Post]

 

[spoiler=After Post]

 

 

 

 

[Alaina]

As the earth chosen had completed her charge, she managed to get a clean hit against the head of one of the bandits. Unfortunately for her, this bandit had a pretty exceptionally hard skull. Recovering from the attack, the bandit went to strike at her, bringing his blade up and striking at her face with it. Seeing the attack coming, the girl quickly raised her shield in order to block the attack. The sword, merely glancing off the metal slab, was blocked, giving way for a counter attack on the girl's part. Bringing her mace back, the girl went to strike at the man's head again. However, before her swing could be completed, the man had managed to catch the shaft of her mace, stopping the attack. Gritting her teeth, the girl then swung her body in the opposite direction, wrenching her mace free and striking the head of the man with her shield. 

 

Unfortunately, the man was quite resilient, more so than she was expecting and continued fighting despite the blows to the head, or maybe because of at this point, he had taken. Going in for the kill against her again, he did a similar motion from before, stabbing towards her face again. Bringing her shield up to defend and side stepping to avoid, the girl had managed to avoid the blade, but due to the nature of the sand her feet was in, she had stumbled. While she was taken a bit by surprise, she managed to catch herself mid stumble before falling, keeping her footing and simply striking with her mace at whatever was currently level with her. What that was, was the bottom center of one's torso, and the hit made the man go into clear shock and pain as her mace struck with great force. After ensuring any future family life for him was over, the girl then went to stand herself back up, bashing her shield upward in the process into the man's face. With the sound of metal hitting face sounding out once again, the man fell down either dead or unconscious, the girl wasn't sure which. 

 

Meanwhile, Ackrin had been merely prancing around the area doing his tall goat thing. After striking the lizard's face with rocks, he decided to fire off another belt of them. And so, creating the rocks to orbit him once again, though less in quantity than the last two times, he fired them all towards the creature once again. The rocks striking true against the mount, seemed to make the lizard a bit woozy, as if it were starting to lose consciousness. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

Shirin was ready to start biting at the man with its four-sectioned jaws, however the man was quite unintimidated with its appearance, and went on to let out a slash right as it opened its mouth. Shirin's current size and position would make it hard for it to dodge. Yet, before Shirin's material body got cut, a loud clang could be heard, and that gave it enough time to get out of the sword's way. It was the sound of an arrow being fired right onto the hand of the bandit, dangerously close to hitting Shirin itself. Well, it wouldn't matter in the long run since its material body was pretty much replaceable, but in a way Shirin was quite irritated that Anis did that instead of sniping the person's head. But well, it couldn't complain about being saved, and swiftly dodged out of the way and zapped forward towards the bandit in an attempt to coil around it. If successful, Shirin would crush his body in zip, but if he proved to be a defiant individual, it could just start munching at him.

 

"Ssssoooo, mortal...fancy being digested?"

 

The chaotic battlefield was making it hard for Anis to concentrate. After she saved Shirin from getting slashed, she was busy running around to pick her arrows again to refuel, preferably from targets that had been incapacitated. She seemed to notice that one of them had fallen in this battle, but it was so unclear, and she couldn't take the risk to check for real. In the end, she was only able to recover two arrows to bring her total into four. With how the enemy number were dwindling, she felt that it would be enough. She was not too far from where Shirin was now, and while she couldn't see Ileca's condition right now, she could see the two javelin-throwers being attacked. One by Shirin who attempted to coil around him, and one by...Gilly.

 

Well uh.

 

The answer on who she had to help was clear. There's no need to help Shirin more anyway. As she stood her ground, she fired an arrow towards the bandit that Gilly was attacking. Firing more arrows would be risky, but Anis readied herself to fire subsequent shots should the opportunity presented itself to her.

 

 

Ileca continued to charge even as the bandit withdrew from her on top of his lizard. She was so annoyed that he kept on punching her earlier, and the lizard was looking too tasty to pass too. Although, she had been considering for a while about how would human meat taste. Anis never allowed her to take a bite before, but with her being busy, Ileca knew that this was her chance. Her vision was still blurred from the bandit's attack on her earlier, but it was enough to notice that the man turned around and threw something towards her. She was fully charging forward now, and not in a position to stop, and the man seemed to use that fact to get her to run straight towards his projectile.

 

"Kwaaa!! (I will still catch you, dinner!!)"

 

Letting out the loudest yell she could manage, she forced herself to move faster and faster, shifting her body a little bit in the meantime. It didn't take even a few seconds before the javelin came in contact with her, but at that point she had shifted by enough for the javelin to only score a direct hit towards her left side of the body, grazing her with visible wound, but nothing too deep. With full determination, the bird with the sword kept accelerating with the hope that the momentum of her charge would allow her to topple either the lizard or the man or both on contact, and after that she could start cutting him up with her sword.

 

---

[Ren✧]

Kha placed his hand over the wound in his side, blood pooling around his fingers. It leaked out onto the desert sand, briefly staining it crimson. Healing himself was a strange process, the magic washed over his wound bringing with it an intense warmth that was almost uncomfortable. He could feel his tissue being knit back together, every torn sinew being sewn back together. Before long, the bleeding stopped and he admired the swatch of new skin that covered where the javelin had punctured him. It was soft and supple, like that of a newborn. 

 

He didn't have much time to marvel at his handiwork, however. They were in the midst of a battle, after all, although a battle that they seemed to be winning. His observation came too soon, it seemed, as a familiar cry of pain caused Kha to remember Ayden's tumultuous fight. He looked to see that his hastily flung javelin had missed completely, leaving Ayden open to a continued attack. He heard the roaring of water as Keres jettisoned Ayden's attacker into the oasis. However, his eyes were fixed on the growing stream of blood that seeped from Ayden's wound. 

 

Kha's eyes grew wide, the image of the mutilated elf flashing before his eyes. Not again. Running to Ayden's side the orc cradled the Chosen of Darkness in his hands. Words silently fell from the wounded swordsman's mouth, his eyes wild and yet, unseeing. "No, no, no!" He cried. Warm light rushed from his fingertips as he desperately tried to heal the grievous wound. The blood just continued to come however, coating the orc in its torrent. He watched helplessly as Ayden continued to slip away. 

[Andx]

While the battle continued the Fire Chosen's focus was completely absorbed in his current opponent. There wasn't really any opportunity to observe the happenings with the others while something had him mostly pinned to the ground in an attempt to eat him. As the lizard mount moved to bite Reinaan the young Draken had been successful in intercepting the attack. A hand grabbed down on either side of the creature's mouth and with some force he was able to keep the mouth shut. That was one issue out of the way. This still left getting her off of him and getting her to calm down to take care of. Neither of these seemed easy and for a few moments it was all Reinaan could do to hold her mouth in place as she struggled while his mind drew blanks on what possibly to do next. The lizard did the thinking for him as it now began moving forward looking to crush him with the rest of her body.

 

The Draken began shuffling his feet, kicking at the sand in an attempt to push himself out and on to his feet some to avoid being crushed. All the while he kept his grip over the mount's mouth firm. The looseness of the sand made it difficult to find any traction. It took a bit but they finally found some as the lizard's body came crashing down. It landed over the top of his feet but due to same loose nature of the sand Reinaan was able to get out from under her and get onto his feet properly. Sand slid off the scales of his tail and back as he readjusted himself. There two arrows stuck in her chest. He thought perhaps if he could remove them she'd calm some and stop attacking him. But to do that and not have her bite him would be a tricky feat. He quickly shifted his right hand which was holding the top of her jaw in place so that he could wrap his right arm around the creature's head. He then held the head close to his chest to attempt to make up for the left hand he would attempt to remove the arrows with.

 

"I just wanna help!" he grunted as he held her in place. Shuffling in this position Reinaan was able to grab a hold of one of the two arrows. With his left hand firmly grasped around it he pulled strongly and swiftly and removed the projectile fairly cleanly from the wound. The lizard however was not a fan of this idea. She bucked her head up and with it lifted Reinaan, who was still tightly gripping her, into the air. He dropped the arrow quickly and brought his left arm in to hold on. It was amazing she was able to lift his entire body weight with only her neck. The Draken appreciated the lizard's strength for a brief moment that felt something like an eternity while she continued thrashing about with him in the air. He reached out his left hand again but the second arrow was out of reach.

 

He'd have to let go to get in reach of it but then the lizard would be free to bite him and would surely do so. "Please! I know it hurts but I'm trying to help!" he called out to the mount unsure how intelligent the creature was. He thought maybe he could calm her some. His left hand still free he placed it softly on the back of her neck hoping it would act as a calming influence. At his touch he could hear something of a muffled hiss or rather felt the vibrations for it with the creature's head pressed against his chest. There wasn't going to be any calming her like that then. "Dammit!" he exclaimed as he let go of the creature's head and began falling to the ground. He reached out as he fell and grabbed hold of the second arrow. This time it came out but much less cleanly and clearly pained the creature. The Draken fell face first onto the sand and got another mouthful of the substance.

 

Killing the creature would have probably been easier than this. Why was he bothering trying to help the lizard? It was what felt right and it was way too late to change plans now. Still, it was something to question later and try to understand why he chose this path. Regardless after spitting out more sand he quickly managed to get to his feet to see what had become of his opponent of sorts. As he did so he tossed the second arrow to the ground. He was going to examine the battle in general but as he turned saw an angry face right up by his own. The lizard was not particularly happy about what had happened with the arrows. Reinaan stared back at her and looked into the eyes of a frightened and angry creature. He couldn't think of what to do. Kill her came to mind. Try something else to help came to mind too. But ultimately he simply relaxed, put his arms down at his side and looked at her. He maintained eye contact his own eyes calming back to their usual shape as the pupils had narrowed into slits from the tension of the battle and combining with Ziiyol.

 

"Let's just... calm down." he said softly attempting to pass the relaxed feeling to the creature. Being so occupied with the creature as he was he missed seeing the grievous wounds to Ayden. He was still aware of what was going on immediately around him but his focus was on trying to get this mount to stand down.

[Sethera]

Gilly whooped when the bandit's attack hit her shield, unbowed at the fact she had missed. She scowled at the earth spirit. "I can handle this!" she shouted, "But thanks for helping, I guess. You're pretty awesome yourself."

 

The bandit taunted, "I'm not going to lose to a tiny wanna-be hero," as he slashed again, downward while reaching into a pocket with his other hand.

 

By now the lizard had recovered and turned its neck to try and bite down on Hob's face. However the Earth Spirit's attack, not quite as well aimed as desired due to the moving the two were doing, struck the lizard in the face, pelting it with stones and dazing it once more. It did so again, and again, with barely any time in-between for the lizard to recover. Soon it started to take on a goofy expression.

 

It was at that moment that an arrow flew out of nowhere, toward the bandit. Yet another person who thought Gilly needed help! The halfling puffed out her cheeks, expression thunderous, striking out with her spear. "The great Gilly needs no help to beat up evil bullies!" she declared.

[Hälō]

Lindow spat a vile mixture of sand and blood down upon his victim's corps as he slowly brought himself to his feet. Panting heavily, he took a moment to survey the battle field. It seemed that the Chosen had secured the upper hand, and that this battle wouldn't be prolonged for much longer. Moving to pick up his blade, Lindow's eye fell on Kha, who was now holding the Chosen of Dark, who seemed to be in critical condition. 

 

"Oh?" Lindow whispered to himself as he looked Ayden up and down. He could spot a dying man a mile away...

 

"So pretty boy isn't going to make, huh?" The witch hunter thought to himself. It wasn't that surprising, seeing as Ayden had been dancing with death since they got to the desert, but nonetheless it would be an inconvenience for the party to lose another member.

 

"Well, when one door closes, another is thrown wide open..." 

 

Steading his breathing, Lindow quickly moved over to Kha and Ayden. "He's done..." Lindow addressed Kha as he took up a readied stance at the Orc's back and peered around the battlefield to be sure that they wouldn't be attacked. "We can prepare a proper burial for him later, but how about we make sure that he's the only one of ours we're burying tonight, eh?" He urged the Orc to join the fray. 

 

Subtly glancing at the Spirit of Darkness that stood next to him as it watched it's partner slowly die, Lindow shifted his gaze so that it rested on the man that had been thrown into the water by Keres. He noted that the bandit had been successful in not drowning, and would probably attempt to rejoin the battle soon. Nonetheless, he stayed by Kha and Ayden's side.

 

"Let's see... Like this, right?" Lindow sighed as he inhaled deeply. Drawing air into himself as if he were resurfacing from a long dive, he felt no difference but still continued; exhaling ever so slightly, before once again deeply breathing inward.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

"We can prepare a proper burial for him later, but how about we make sure that he's the only one of ours we're burying tonight, eh?"

As much as Keres didn't want to agree with that man, as far as she could tell, he was right. Not only was Ayden's wound too great; Kha had expended a lot of energy already. They had to make sure none of the rest of them were killed. To that end Keres refocused on the bandit she had thrown into the lake.

 

As Lindow focused he would suddenly feel the world around him vanish as a darkness overtook his senses.

 

Lindow's and Kha's distraction made it so neither noticed the swimming bandit making their way back to the shore. Keres would turn to see him approaching them, dripping wet, and she'd start to begin another spell. The bandit reached into a pouch at his side and tossed a knife her way, forcing her to dive to the ground to avoid being hit.

While she did this the bandit rushed at Kha, moving quickly and bringing his sword down towards the Orc's head even while Ayden's breath began to shudder in pain, signalling he was not long for this world.

 

The bandit facing Shirin barely avoided having his hand impaled by the arrow and had to pull away as the sword was pushed to the side. As Shirin began to coil around the bandit, the lizard mount would bite down onto its body, while the bandit dropped his sword in order to try and use his arms to keep the snake from entirely crushing him. Oddly he seemed more startled by the fact that the snake was talking than anything else.

 

The bandit fighting Gilly laughed as he puled some chalky looking stone from his pouch. However the arrow that came towards him struck his arm and forced him to drop the stone.

What followed was the bandit diving to the side in a panic, unknowingly avoiding Gilly's spear thrust, as the stone struck the side of the lizard. It exploded upon impact, causing the lizard to hiss out in pain and collapse. The bandit, meanwhile, got to his feet, with a lizard now between him and Gilly.

 

"Let's just... calm down."

The lizard seemed to be confused as she faced Reinaan. She continued to hiss as the Draken tried to calm it but didn't seem to be moving to attack anymore. Until she suddenly crouched before lunging at him.

 

As Ileca made contact with the bandit and his mount it became a confused mess. The bandit tried at first to stay on the mount but eventually gave up and let himself be tossed from it, landing face down into the sand. However the lizard didn't seem to appreciate what Ileca was doing and bit down at the nearest part it could, her leg, even while being cut repeatedly by the bird's stolen weapon.

 

[spoiler=OOC][spoiler=Before Post]

 

[spoiler=After Post]

 

 

[Ren✧]

Kha didn't have to be told of the futility of his efforts. He could feel the life leaving Ayden just as quickly as he was pumping it into him. There were some things that just couldn't be stopped. The rising and setting of the sun. The passing of the seasons. And death. "We can prepare a proper burial for him later, but how about we make sure that he's the only one of ours we're burying tonight, eh?" Kha let out a silent prayer as he felt Ayden's body shudder, the orc gently laid him down in the sand. He felt heat build behind his eyes, burning like the memories of those he could not save. His parents, his den-mother, Qali, and now, Ayden. The tears that spilled from the corners of his eyes traced battle lines in the dust that caked his face. The cycle of life continued.

 

Kha saw the bandit coming, but he was caught in quite the awkward position. Trapped on his knees in the sand, he would not be able to rise and intercept the bandit, nor would he be able to move out of the charging swordsman's way. He had already spent most of his energy healing his own wound and trying to bring Ayden back from the brink of death. It almost seemed as if things were moving in slow motion as he watched the sword move along its deadly arc. 

 

Perhaps they were on a fool's mission. Kha briefly wondered if he should have stayed back with his tribe, perhaps he would have lasted longer there. He would've been able to lead his people towards peace, instead of acting as some pawn in a game he didn't understand. The orc raised his head, loss swimming in his eyes as he fixed the bandit with a look of sincere acceptance. There was nothing in the bandit's eyes but anger and fear, and the orc knew the look all too well. This was the look of a man so afraid of dying that he was desperate to kill. Kha grew up in a world where it was kill or be killed, he was foolish to think he could make a difference. Kha's lips moved in a silent prayer and the cycle of life would continue.

[Hälō]

Lindow suddenly reopened his eye, his senses returning from the void just as fast as they were consumed by it. How long was he out? Quickly spinning around at the sound of footsteps, he was met with the sight of the bandit that had been thrown in the lake as they charged at Kha with his sword raised to deliver a lethal strike. "Too long..." He answered his own question.  

 

Though the situation was obviously dire, Lindow found his gaze falling on Ayden as the Dark Chosen rested motionlessly in between Lindow and Kha. The boy was hanging on by a thread, and if Lindow let him pass like this, he wouldn't be able to seize this precious opportunity. Looking up again to see that Kha had chosen to simply accept his fate, Lindow cursed under his breath. If he took the time to make his move discreetly, the party would lose their healer...

 

"Damn it all..." He sighed. Suddenly erupting into a blur of movement, the witch hunter plunged his scimitar into the Dark Chosen's chest with all of his might. With a grunt, he gripped the handle with his other hand and swung himself forward just as the bandit reached Kha. "I thought I told you that we were only burying one of our own today!" Lindow growled at the orc whilst his foot slammed into his attacker in a sloppy sidekick that sent the man stumbling to the side and caused his blade to swing wide. 

 

Though he was generally proud of himself for successfully preforming such an unorthodox attack, Lindow had no time to bask in his success. Yanking his curved blade free from Ayden's corps with twist, he looked over his shoulder to see Nocturne in full view. The Spirit of Darkness glared daggers at Lindow for what he had did to their Chosen, but said nothing as they began to fade just as the Spirit of Wind had. Kha would have to defend himself from here...

 

"This time for sure..." Lindow cooed with anticipation as he quickly pivoted around and extended a hand towards Nocturne. Closing his eye, he inhaled deeply once again as he focused his mind on Nocturne's essence. Though the spirit seemed to be struggling, Nocturne began to fade more with each passing second and after several more deep breaths from Lindow, Nocturne's humanoid form was replaced with mere wisp of shadow that drifted into Lindow's body.

 

"Hmmm," Lindow brought his hand up and began flexing it as if he were making sure it still worked. An emptiness had appeared within him and it were as if his stomach was suddenly void of any substance, despite the fact that it hadn't been that long since he last ate. "A side effect maybe?" Though now wasn't the time to dwell on it. Instead he looked around the battlefield to be sure no enemies were around him, and more importantly; see who had witnessed what had just happened. 

[Maeriberii Haan]

---

 

"The great Gilly needs no help to beat up evil bullies!"

 

"Yeah, I'm sure you don't need help with that. Next thing you know, you'll get your legs crushed or something."

 

Anis shook her head, not really in the mood to tolerate Gilly's overexcited attempt to brawl with her opponent. She found her to be quite cute and reminding her of the children of her village, but even this was a bit too much, and the halfling girl needed to grow. With a wide berth, she decided to comply to her request and started moving around instead. She was running out of arrows and she's a bit too tired to use her magic to make some wooden-tipped ones. She wasn't really someone that would just rush in and attack at this point. As she moved, she noticed the chaos that happened around Kha, Lindow, and the recently deceased Ayden, and she offered a short prayer for their safety as she moved on, feeling that it was best that they handled the situation on their own. She needed to save some energy to make sure she was able to help heal the wounded later. However, later on she noticed a javelin sticking out of the ground, and noticed how Ileca struggled against her opponent. The bird had pushed herself a lot...Anis shook her head as she picked the javelin from the ground, and started to aim.

 

 

The lizard attacking it wasn't really that big of an issue. It funking hurt, but Shirin couldn't care less even as the snake started to bleed. The man who tried to push it out and avoid getting crushed wasn't showing that much strength either. In response, the snake simply strengthened its attempt to constrict and crush, and for good measure, its head lunged to bite the man's head. Four sectioned mouths with serrated teeth, closing like a reverse blooming.

 

At times like this, Shirin wished that it was a poisonous snake. Perhaps it could ask Anis to give it some nice pair of venomous fangs next time.

 

 

Ileca continued her mad assault towards the bandit and its mount. She managed to push the bandit away and forced him to land into the sand, but then the lizard bit her leg. Of course, it only made her angrier, and she was ready to cut apart the lizard until she could hear the sound of an object piercing the wind. Someone threw a javelin at them, and somehow, it only made her mood worse. Why did Anis bother to help her? Others needed more help? Wherever the javelin landed though, Ileca used it as a sign for her to keep pushing forward, ignoring the lizard that bit her leg. The man was on the sand, and Ileca slammed one of her legs on him.

 

With a muffled scream, she then continued her bladed assault on him. Ignoring her own wounds, ignoring everything else, she wanted to lash out at someone.

 

---

[Alaina]

After having defeated the bandit before her, the earth chosen did not have much time to catch their breath as their seemed to be activity still going on all around her. Each and every chosen seemed to have their own fight going on, though some seemed to be more controlled than others. However, there was one in particular that stood out to her. One that had just come out of the water, seeming to take on the chosen's of light and thunder. While they didn't seem the most focused on the enemy before them, they had managed to avoid taking any significant damage from him. Seeing that they were likely exhausted and still in need of aid, the earth chosen continued to rush towards their aid, and with the bandit noticing her run, took off in a direction away from them. Continuing to trail after him, the girl had finally managed to close the distance between the two. Once in range, the Earth Spirit looked to his chosen, casting another of his spells. In a small area around the girl's feet, she suddenly felt the difficulty of moving through sand subsiding, almost as if it were solid stone. 

 

Once the distance was successfully closed between the two, the earth chosen bashed forward with her shield, though, stopping short and pulling back. As she did, the bandit dodged to the right side of her, only for her to step inward and catch his free arm with her mace. While the attack was solid enough, the man was none too deterred as he stabbed forward with his sword, reaching into his back pouch all the while. In order to stop this, the girl bashed forward with her shield, in order to intercept the blade, only for the bandit to pull back before collision. However, as he pulled back, the girl in stepped once more, bringing her shield towards his chest. As the man brought his arm to absorb the blow, the girl felt a sharp pain go through her side. 

 

Looking down, she saw there was a knife in the man's other hand, sticking into her side. As she saw this, her eyes widened a bit as she looked back to the man, bringing her mace to his now open side. As the mace struck the man's chest, he seemed to start really feeling the pain. Though still defiant, he continued to dig the knife into the girl's side, causing her to grit her teeth in pain, her eyes looking to the man's arm. Bringing her shield down in an almost chop like fashion, the girl attempted to strike the man's elbow, only for him to pull away before it connected. Her eyes moving back to the man, a fierce look in them, with a grunt she brought her shield back up, striking the man's chest with it. As she did, the arrow lodged in it seemed to be driven further in, splintering and causing the man to start bleeding heavily. As he coughed and moved unsteadily backward, the earth chosen simply regained her posture, readying herself to defend against any last ditch effort this man might have had. 

[Andx]

The mount continued hissing but seemed unsure how to react to Reinaan. The Draken tried to remain calm in his body language hoping she'd respond similarly. Maybe it was working. She didn't seem particularly up to attack him anymore. But Reinaan continued to watch her. He wanted this to be the end of his fight with the creature but fate had other plans in mind. All at once she crouched to ready herself and then lunged out at the young man. Reinaan raised his hands in response. "I didn't want to hurt you dammit!" he called out to the creature. Tongues of flame escaped the corners of his mouth as he shouted at it, a mixture of the frustration he felt and Ziiyol's powers stoking the natural flames his body could generate. He already knew at this point he'd have to subdue the creature with force rather than attempt to calm it by simply being calm himself.

 

In response to the creature's advance Reinaan moved to jump back to avoid being pinned. The sand beneath his feet made this more difficult than he was used to and he didn't get quite the distance he would have normally anticipated. But as he moved to do so he noticed the lizard didn't commit to her movement. In fact she seemed to be watching him more than anything. The boy landed a few feet back slightly confused himself now and simply looked back at her. He lowered his arms attempting to relax one more time. "What are you up to?" he said aloud questioning her. The two locked eyes again, simply watching everything the other did. There didn't seem to be any sign the other would make a move. Keeping his eyes on her Reinaan decided it was time to test what was going on. And so he began slowly walking up toward her.

 

The mount only continued watching his movements. As he drew close to the mount Reinaan gradually reached out his right hand palm facing toward her. She let out a bit of a huff and lowered her head and continued watching his movements. He moved his hand closer to the creature's face but stopped shy of touching as doing so before had only proved to anger her. With another huff she nudged the boy's hand. She then pushed on Reinaan's chest with her head moving him back a few feet. With a bit of a laugh Reinaan moved along with it. "H-hey!" he said. She settled back afterwards and started looking up. There was something of a haughtiness to the way she was doing it. Almost like she was condescending to stop their fight. Regardless it worked for the Draken who breathed a sigh of relief and took his eyes off the creature for a moment. He was glad Ziiyol was currently combined with him or the jokes she'd be poking at him would be unbearable.

 

"You stay put you hear? I'll bring you something to help those wounds when this is over." he said somewhat playfully with the creature. She seemed to look away as if not interested. The young Draken walked back over to where he had dropped his spear when he initially began wrestling with the mount. He turned his back to her content she was no longer determined to attack him. Though when he wasn't looking the lizard did look back at him with some interest. He bent over to pick up the weapon which gave the mount a nice look at the underside of his tail. Standing back up straight the boy took to scanning the battlefield. His eyes caught on something of interest. It was Lindow but a strange haze of darkness seemed to be flowing into him. Something to ask about later perhaps. More importantly Ryia was engaging the opponent towards the group gathered there. Anis seemed to be readying to assist her bird companion who was struggling against one of the bandits. Gilly was declaring she needed no assistance against her opponent. Of them all Ileca seemed in some of the worst shape so while Anis readied her javelin Reinaan took off running along the south edge of the battlefield toward the bird and the bandit she'd been fighting.

[Sethera]

Gilly vaguely noticed that Mr. Lindow started to look all black and shadowy, but that didn't matter that much to her. She would ask him what he ate later on, but for now...it was enemy bashing time!

 

Things started happening fast. The bandit bully dropped a rock which exploded, the lizard fell down, and the bandit bully got up. Also Alice(?) had finally listened to her. "Yeah, I'm sure you don't need help with that. Next thing you know, you'll get your legs crushed or something." She was being kind of mean and sarcastic though. Guess that's what happened when you became a boring adult.

 

Left to her own devices, Gilly had Hob jump up on top of the lizard's wounded side, stomping down hard with his hooves. "Sorry, lizard, but if you're allied with a bully, then that makes you no better than a bully yourself!" she said, jumping down from her mount to go toe to toe with the bandit. "Hyaah!" she shouted as she thrust out with her spear. She swung it wildly, all over, a whirlwind of motion and stabs with no actual aim behind any of them.

[LordCowCowCowCowCowCowCowCow]

The bandit with an arrow to his chest first failed to kill his target due to some wack-job kicking him. Then he was waylaid by this girl and her damned shield. The man seemed to be taking it in stride, though, as he simply prepared to continue his fight. He was bleeding but not down and he only needed one hand to hold his sword, after all, while the other clutched at his wound to keep himself from bleeding out. The way he figured it he could take down this girl and get some healing herbs he had stashed in his pouch.

 

He then heard a sickening crunching noise as his companion's head was bitten off by a giant snake. Sure, the lizard mount continued to chomp at the snake and, it seemed, the snake was losing hold of its large physical form, but that was one less ally to help. And the other two were far away from him by now.

 

The bandit eyed the group near him. That mage, who looked to be worn out, this girl with the shield and that man with the kicks who seemed to be still in good condition, and the possibly suicidal Orc.

 

Keres meanwhile wasn't paying any attention to the battle. She was staring at Lindow. She said nothing, did nothing, but her mind was whirling. What had she witnessed? Was this some power that they had? Why would he do such a thing? Was it good, bad, or in between? She started making connections. Lindow's spirit not having appeared lately. His abilities. A dream she had all but forgotten... "Demon." She muttered. Not in the literal sense, but close enough.

 

She didn't even notice as the bandit shrugged and spoke. "Looks like that's all eh? How about you just let me go and I'll be out of your hair forever. Sound good?"

 

Anis's javelin soared past the fighting group of bird and lizard, and the bird kicked at the bandit, knocking him onto his back. He raised his arms to try and fend off the sword wielding avian but his lizard seemed to have other plans. It used Ileca's distraction to knock the bird down onto the ground and crawl upon it, ready to bite her neck and tear her head clean off.

The bandit noticed Reinaan approaching and quickly dug into his pouch, tossing a small, yellow-ish, rock, similar to the one the bandit fighting Gilly had used, at the charging Draken.

 

Meanwhile the lizard that Reinaan had wrestled with was watching him curiously. Why was this lizard so small? Why did it walk on two feet? And how did it learn to speak the language of Riders? There was much to contemplate and so she simply settled in, not intending to bother with this fight any longer.

 

Hob's merciless assault on the lizard caused it such intense pain, on the other hand, that it was forced out of the fight as the creature passed out.

The bandit seemed to be in good condition considering the circumstance and was able to avoid most of Gilly's attacks. One did manage to catch him across his thigh, though, sending a stinging pain through his body.

 

He growled, frustrated, and grabbed the cold weapon and tugged at it. At the same time thrusting his sword towards Gilly.

 

[spoiler=OOC][spoiler=Before Post]

 

[spoiler=After Post]

 

 

[Hälō]

"Looks like that's all eh? How about you just let me go and I'll be out of your hair forever. Sound good?" The bandit closest to him spoke, causing Lindow to glance over his shoulder. This guy still wasn't dead? Sighing, he glanced back over to Gilly, who was currently dueling with one of the other bandits... He needed to get over there.

 

"It's gonna be pretty funny..." Lindow addressed the bandit as he passed behind the Earth Chosen. "Wish I could be there to hear you explain to all your buddies in hell that she was the one that killed ya." He taunted. Placing his hand on Ryia's shoulder before breaking off into a sprint towards Gilly.

 

As Lindow rapidly closed the gap, he plucked up a discarded javelin from the sand and readied it in his right hand whilst grabbing a dagger from his belt with his left. When he was just fifteen feet away from the pair, he skillfully tossed the blade towards large bandit's face just as the man grabbed Gilly's spear and prepared to run her through with his sword.

 

Watching as the bandit hastily deflected the projectile with his sword, Lindow could only sneer back as he continued his charge. Though he had managed to save the halfling from being impaled, he could feel his energy reserves nearing their bottom. They needed to end this fight quickly.

 

"Gilly," Lindow called out to the Ice Chosen as he gripped his javelin with both hands and moved as if he were about to stab at the bandit. "You need to stop flailing your weapon like that..." Lindow trailed off as he suddenly pivoted to the right, swinging the far part of the javelin's shaft into the side of the bandits arm using his momentum. The large man grunted in pain, releasing Gilly's spear from his grasp.

 

Panting, Lindow took a step back and drew the javelin backwards once more. "Like you're eating with fork," Lindow breathed before moving forward and thrusting the back end of his javelin into the bandit's chest, causing the large man to stumble back a little. "put your strength into singular strikes." Slightly surprised by how well the bandit took his attack, Lindow sighed before twirling his weapon around and pointing its tip towards their opposition whilst taking up a readied stance.

 

"I want you to aim for his legs..."