Closed Name: trail by fire.. well kinda (balderdash)

[Rador]

Rador's eyes widened and he grunted in pain as his elbow hit the brick wall. That thing was really petching strong. He ignored the wetness of his robes as he gritted his teeth. Just in time to get a headbut in the cheek from the creature. Rador thanked xannos' for the fact that this guy didn't seem to know how to fight at all. He tasted something metallic and something lose in his mouth. He just spat whatever was loose in his mouth out. He had space to work with now and he noticed the movement of the man's leg. He wasn't going to let the creature kick him. That could easily be the end for him with that creatures strenght. But he still had a weapon.. even though he was unskilled with it and he knew how to fight unarmed. That put him ahead of the creature. He dodged away from the foot. Towards the leg that would be staying on the ground and swung his warhammer at the back of creatures leg. Hoping that he could get the creature on the ground.

[Balderdash]

A tooth skidded across the ground when Rador spat, a grim reminder to guard one's face in the future. The monk's quick thinking served him well, his foe's foot barely grazing his robes as he twisted around it. Rador's counterattack was swift and power, the hammer smashing into his enemy's knee with a wet crack! that echoed off the walls. The man promptly crashed to the ground, his leg bent at an unnatural angle and fury on his face as he crawled towards the monk who maimed him, teeth bared. In the distance, Rador could hear the patter of sandals. A tick later, the man would spring himself with his remaining good leg at Rador's knees, trying to take him down.

[Rador]

The bastard really didn't want to play nice and just stay down. That wasn't something a human would do. Most humans would have rolled over and started pleading for mercy when it was this bad. Not this thing. It wanted to kill him and it wouldn't be stopped by something as simple as a mangled leg. The creature clawed at the ground as it turned towards him. Well if it really wanted a fight to the death. Then Rador would be happy to cave it's skull in with his hammer. He heard the patter of sandals on the stone in the distance. Either a citizen of nyka was coming closer of a monk of xannos was. He hoped the latter. He could use another head to figure out what caused this. Then the creature sprung at him. Rador knew one thing. If the creature got him in his grasp. He would be slowly squeezed to death. Well if the thing was competent anyway, but he wasn't going to risk his life on the incompetence of an enemy. He dodged backwards as fast as he could. Taking quick steps as to keep out of reach of those grasping arms. If he managed to dodge the grasping arms. He would swing his hammer at the creatures right shoulder. Trying to make it's arm unusable bit by bit. It would be easier to figure out what the hell happened to the man if it was alive after all.

[Balderdash]

Stepping backward in this case turned out to be the wrong decision. Bony fingers caught hold of the hem of the monk's robes, causing him to crash to the ground as he hopped back. Though undoubtedly injured, the man's strength only seemed to increase. With some effort, he hauled himself on top of Rador, hands scrabbling for his neck... Thunk! An arrow pierced the man's skull like an apple, scattering small flecks of bone and brain across the ground, and Rador. The man's head dropped onto Rador's chest, body slumping like a wet noodle. From his mouth, saliva dripped, followed by something much more sinister. A red ooze would leak from his mouth as well as the wound, pooling together next to Rador. More clearly now, he could make out letters belonging to a language long forgotten by any race floating in the ooze. It sat there in a perfect circle, possibly examining the monk, before slithering off down the alley and down a crack in the road. "You saw it too?" said a female voice some distance behind Rador. It belonged to another of his order, a dark-skinned woman with curly close-cropped hair and a shortbow who was now striding towards her downed fellow. Whatever his response was, after she'd hauled Rador to his feet she'd say gruffly "You didn't see anything abnormal. Neither did I. Anyone asks, our deceased friend here was high on the Red Cloak. You know that stuff, right?" She sighed and looked down at the corpse, her brow furrowed. "First Amelia vanishes, now this... The boss'll want to hear the account from you firsthand." After a couple ticks, she smiled faintly at him. "Good work, kid. Petcher could've killed more people. Just make sure you keep your feet on the ground when someone tries to tackle you in the future." With that, she motioned with her head in the direction of the Tempered Anvil headquarters. "I'll clean up the mess here. You go turn in your report. Just... Keep it between us, yeah? Don't go babbling about this stuff to anyone not of the hammer."

[Rador]

Rador thought he had evaded the creatures wild grabs. Unfortunaly he seemed to have miscalculated the creatures reach. It managed to get hold of the hem of his robe and for once the fact that the robes were made out of a very sturdy material worked against him as the creature pulled with enough force to let him lose his balance and crash against the ground. Rador's breath was knocked out of him and the man crawled on him, putting enough weight on his legs that they were useless to kick him off. He didn't have enough leverage. Both of the creatures hands reached towards his throat. Rador just gritted his teeth and punched the creature in the face while slapping the creatures hands away. It didn't do a damn thing, it kept advancing, shrugging of the punch in the face as if it was nothing. Before rador could even try to think of something else to get the thing of him there was a stringing sound and an arrow plunged itself in the skull of the creature and it slumped on top of him. Dripping blood on his robes. And out of it's mouth something red oozed out of it. It looked like blood, except for two things. One were the strange ancient letters clearly visible inside of it. The other fact was that after a short while it moved on its own and slithered away. Rador shook himself out of his stupor and pushed the body of the poor man off him. His fellow monk pulled him back on his feet. “Thanks for saving my neck.” He simply said. nodding when she asked if she saw it as well. Then she quickly gave him the line he was supposed to give to non-monks of xannos. “ I know of it. I'll be sure to keep my mouth shut about this.” “I saw the guy's brother not to long ago down that way.” He pointed from the way he had came and where he had split up the fight. “I said something about possession to him. We might have to set the record straight with him. That it was just drug use instead of possession.” Maybe she already knew, maybe she didn't. But he rather repeated a few things and made sure everybody knew what they had to know then to get any misunderstandings. Despite the fact that he barely made it alive, he couldn't help but smile slightly at the small compliment that she gave him. “I'll keep that piece of advice in mind for the next time.” Relieved that there would be a next time. “If anybody asks I'll just tell them that it was a drug overdose.” He answered when she said to keep it between the monks of xannos. “I'll leave you to it then.” He said. He left his fellow monk to deal with the body and quickly made his way towards the headquarters to give his report.