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A lawless town of anarchists, built on the ruins of an ancient mining city. [Lore]
After Anthony’s briefing, Zenai went for the eastern side of the defenses and crouched behind the makeshift walls. He could hear arrows hitting against the wall and see arrows overshooting over the walls. He took a peek over the walls and saw at least two figures just over yonder. They must be bandits’ archers covering for their fellows that are crossing over to the south side so they could go for a pincer attack. As if to prove his theory, he could just make out that the two figures are wielding bows and firing arrows at them while some movement can be discerned crossing into the southern forest. At least, they got at least four men on the southern defense.
Still, he would need to deal with those archers otherwise they can’t engage the would-be attackers from both the north and south. He nocked an arrow onto his composite short bow’s bowstring. Oh wait; he has a short bow… A disadvantage for a footslogging archer as short bows usually doesn’t have the range you would see and be comfortable with on a long bow. He looked over to Anthony and he could very well see that the archer could hit the archers on his side easy. Once again, Zenai was proven right when Anthony was able to knock down a couple of them with a few arrows. His short bow would only be much more useful if Zenai was riding horseback or even dire-eagle-back. He has to make do or at least, try.
He took another peek at the bandit-archers on his side; perhaps they were close enough to be hit by Zenai’s short bow. Worth a shot, he thought and chuckled under his breath at his own pun. Zenai slowly rises to overlook the walls so he has a clear shot at his target while breathing in deeply as he straightened his bow arm and pulling the arrow with his drawing arm and back muscles. He half-breathe out as he took aim at his target; one of the bandit-archers. He imagined his arrow’s flight from his bow to the bandit’s head, taking into account of wind direction and speed. Confident, he breathes out completely and let the arrow fly before ducking back behind the walls. He let his muscles rest up but wondered he hit or not.
He took another peek over the walls and it just landed a few feet short of his target. Too low. He nocked another arrow onto the bowstring and repeated the process. Thing time he aims a little bit higher, he let his arrow fly and it missed again by hitting the ground just besides the enemy archer. Petch! He shot another arrow and again, he missed by overshooting it. Zenai got frustrated. If he can’t hit anything by careful aim and patience, he’s going to try for rate of fire. He got three arrows ready for his rapid-firing. This time he just the arrow flew at the general direction of his targets. All failed to hit. Again! He shot another three arrows in quick succession. All but one missed. Zenai could hear a scream of pain and agony. Finally, he hit something after firing eight arrows. One out of eight; not very good success rate but Zenai could see that the they have backed off somewhat from Zenai’s own hail of arrows.
Zenai shouted, “One down. East side!” He was excited but that excitement was quickly extinguished by the war cries from the north and south side. Oh shyke… Here they come, running down from the northern hill and charging out of the southern forest. It won’t be long before those from the east and west would come join their comrades for the slaughter. He looked at the southern defenders, two guards and two drivers with crossbows. They could handle as well as Zenai could which isn’t much to begin with. Zenai looked at his own side and saw that they seem to a bit braver and marched forward further. Zenai shot a few arrows to discourage them.
Anthony relayed his battle plans quickly and efficiently, assigning them to various positions. Eridanus did not argue, for in a tense emergency situation like this authority must be obeyed quickly for maximum efficiency. Although he would usually defer to someone usually, let alone a stranger, special circumstances demanded special behaviour, and as this man had already proved his experience in tactics, the survivors would do well to work together if they wanted to maintain their tag as 'survivors' rather than 'victims'. He took his position alongside Zenai, leaving the west area to the experienced archer. It was just as well, for the targets in the west tended to be further and more shielded due to the nearer presence of the trees, but the bandits in the east would be nearer due to the elevation in the road, for a limitation of such ranged weaponry required line-of-sight unless one had the use of magic, was extremely lucky, or was well-versed in the art of blind-shooting via estimation.
He was not particularly skilled in archery, and he stretched his bow imitating Anthony's actions. He positioned his bow in a general direction towards the target and let loose an arrow, hearing a second twang as Zenai released his grip as well. While Zenai's shot landed pretty close to one of the bandits, his arrow was completely off-target. Eridanus growled in frustration. He had no idea how to aim or to operate such a weapon, and he ducked again, his back against the crates. It was providence that he spotted a crossbow sticking out of the stash of weapons Zenai had gathered and dumped in the center of their make-shift fortress, and his spirits lifted. While he was no master crossbowman, he knew for a fact that a crossbow was way easier to use than a longbow, for aiming with a crossbow was more straight forward and required much less skill than a longbow, though the trade-off was the much shorter range. Still, it was better than nothing, and he dashed over, dumping the longbow into the pile and lugging the heavy crossbow and the nearby quiver of bolts back to his position. He dropped his previous quiver of arrows next to Zenai, for he had no further need for them, and observed with interest that Zenai still had no further luck with his accuracy, evidenced by the presence of a few more arrows sticking from the ground.
The Vantha popped up into a better position, and used placed his crossbow on the crate to lessen the impact of recoil so that the knockback would be dissipated towards the crate rather than supporting it with his frame and inexperienced hands. Aiming down the rough wooden apertures, he pressed the trigger, the bolt releasing with a whoosh and narrowly missing his target. Now this was definitely more encouraging than his previous attempt. He ducked down again, his fingers fumbling as he reloaded the heavy crossbow, hearing several more twangs next to him. It seemed that Zenai had decided to forego accuracy for rate of fire, and was firing arrows one after the other in the general direction. He ducked up again, and as he readjusted his sight, in the corner of his eyes he saw an arrow flying forward and embedding itself into Zenai's chosen target. The hail of arrows had forced the bandit archers to edge back, increasing the distance between them and making it harder for Eri to hit due to the range limitations of the crossbow. There was a silver lining in every cloud, however, and the remaining bowman responded by notching an arrow, probably aiming to take down the guy who shot his comrade.
Eridanus took the opportunity to gaze down his sights at the still target. This was the perfect opportunity for the bandit would duck down after firing his own arrow. He took a short breath, holding it and reducing the need for his body to shudder unnecessarily. He remembered the miss from the previous shot, and re-adjusted his aim accordingly, aiming at the man's right shoulder. If he was correct, it should hit the center of his torso. He released his breath and took in a new one, not too deep but shallow enough to keep his body still for the next split second. He mentally whispered a prayer and clicked the trigger, keeping care not to let his weapon deviate too much. The bolt flew straight, embedding itself into the stomach of the surprised bandit. Okay, it didn't land exactly where he intended it to land, but the job was done, nevertheless. He silently congratulated himself as he ducked down once again, reloading the next bolt.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.
His back was on the north side of the wagons now, after not having been given enough time to deal with the last threats on the west side. The charge was coming, and the yelling from the north had forced him to relocate to a place he could hold them back. He popped his head up for moment to gain a clearer view of the bandits in the north before pulling himself back down into cover as a crossbow bolt sailed above his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Eridanus and Zenai, covering the same wall.
Barely a hundred feet away three of the enemy were charging their position, but the crossbowman had yet to be dealt with... and the charging members from the north would have to be dealt with too. He couldn't take both. Shouting out to the other he gave an order. "Zenai, Eridanus. Shift over to the two crossbowman to the west! Take 'em out!" Whether or not the two might follow it was a different matter for him to know as he moved a good three feet down from his prior position. Putting at least a small distance between where he last stood up so he wouldn't be as easy a target to some crossbowman's bolt.
Bow in hand he rose, and took a quick shot at the nearest charging man and released, the arrow impacted into the man's chest. Sending him careening backwards, his body coming to a dead halt before a shortsword clattered to the ground. Antar was forced to duck back in cover again as another crossbow bolt passed his head. He could only hope in the convening time, Eridanus or Zenai had managed to kill the last of the crossbowman.
He knew though, that his time was up, the other two bandits would reach the northern barricade in mere moments. Cursing his luck one hand went to the hilt of his gladius as he drew it free from its sheathe and took a deep breathe of air to help ready him for the assault.
Friendly Units: Fightworthy: 1 Antar, 1 Zenai, 1 Eridanus, 1 Longsword Guard(30 longsword), 1 shortsword guard (30pts shortsword), 2 Caravan Drivers with Crossbows Note: one of the still living guards might be with the bandits XD) Wounded: 1 Merchant, 1 Merchant's son, 1 Driver with broken arm. Already Dead: 3 dead guards: 2 armored, 1 not, Comp. Shortbow, 1 Longbow, 1 Crossbow (used bodies for stuffing up holes in defense - also explains Eridanus' and Zenai's choice of weapons XD.), 1 random guard who died running for the forest. Note: 1 of the extra guards or drivers may be working with the bandits and attempt to stab you in the back XD.
"I am the Shadow and the smoke in your eyes, I am the ghost that hides in the night." ~Back, but slow.
Eridanus just reloaded his crossbow, when Anthony yelled at him and Zenai to take out the bowmen from the west where he was firing at. He wondered why the sudden change in strategy, for the archer was undoubtedly superior in ranged combat. As he crouched and ran towards Anthony's position, the man had already left towards the north side and he slammed his back against the crates, taking cover as a crossbow bolt sailed over him. He heard yelling from the north and he realized that the bandits have finally decided to charge. He supposed Anthony decided to deal with the more urgent threat for, being a superior archer than the rest of them, he probably had the highest chance of taking down the charging brigands before they could reach the fortress and so designated the less urgent task of taking down the remaining bowmen to the less experienced guards that were Eri and Zenai.
There was not enough time already, though, and Eri wished to remove the enemy archers fast, for he was growing tired of having to crouch wherever he went and to constantly take cover for fear of finding a projectile embedded in his body should he not. Noting that Zen was still on his way there and Anthony was focusing on aiming his bow at some poor soul in the north, the Vantha took advantage of the chaos and noise and focused on the stream of raw djed coursing in his body.
"Ol' ye lights, focus now on my balance", he whispered, more for himself than anything for his voice was instantly drowned by the noise in the surroundings.
"Venture up, seeking strength, forgetting mobility", he continued, imagining the streams converging upwards to provide might and stability to his upper torso at the expense of other parts of his body, especially the lower torso. That was fine by him, for his current situation did not involve any leg movement.
"And stoic I become, like a boulder I defy", he finished, feeling the rush of pure power filling his arms and chest. This was an incantation taught to him by a fellow practitioner many years back that he remembered for his own use due to its effective imagery and of course, the fact that it worked like a charm for him. This version, however, was adapted by him, using the same imagery to redirect the flow of djed somewhere else, changing some words and imagery to modify the original intention of the incantation or spell.
He popped up, placing the crossbow on the top of the crate, instantly spotting the nearest bowman who was crouched below a boulder, frantically reloading his weapon. The Vantha's supernaturally augmented strength provided him with the stability to control his involuntary movements for a short while, and he took a shallow breath, willing his body to completely stop moving for that short while. In a blink of an eye, he aimed at the boulder, slightly going off-target to adjust for weapon inaccuracies. The enemy popped up to make his shot, and Eri clicked the trigger, his unnaturally steady arms keeping the crossbow almost completely still before and after firing to prevent adding any unwanted velocity and angles to the shot.
Moments later a bolt appearing lodged in the bandit's shoulder, slightly off-target from the intended target of his chest, but still an acceptable one. The impact slammed the man backwards, and he fell down like a rag doll, not rising again. If they were lucky, maybe he hit his head on a rock or something and was knocked out cold. There was no doubt that a simple bolt in the shoulder would kill anyone up front. Eridanus had enough knowledge of the anatomy to at least know that. He steadied his breathing, channeling the streams of power back to their original positions, struggling to return to a stable flow of flux throughout his body.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.
Eridanus did pretty well for himself when he forsakes the long bow he had for a crossbow. Crossbow was alright if you don’t have time to train but Zenai preferred a composite short bow for most situations. Zenai comes from a line of mounted riders or rather his father’s side of the family has a long history of knightly history while he only knew his own mother being an Endal. Still, it was a pretty good lineage and something that Zenai can draw strength and experience from. Zenai took a peek over the eastern walls and saw they were none left; either the fled or died.
However, the situation is still dire, their northern and southern defenses are going to overrun if they don’t something soon. In addition, Anthony hasn’t full dealt with the remaining bandits on his side. Zenai wanted to go for the northern wall and call for Eridanus to follow him but Anthony had other ideas. He called for Zenai and Eridanus to come to the western side and knock out the two crossbowmen while Anthony himself went for the northern wall. In hindsight, it made sense; the crossbowmen can be dealt with some time but those coming from north and south needed to be thinned out as much as possible. Anthony, being an expert infantry-archer would be more useful on the northern side while the two drivers with the crossbows would be deal with the southern charge since they’re already there.
Eridanus already ran and slide towards the western wall which then Zenai followed suit. He hasn’t exactly had time for a volley fire with his short bow so he needs to take careful aim and try to kill a bandit with one arrow. As he rolled into cover, he immediately got up while breathing in deeply. A bolt hits the section of the wall in front of him but Zenai remains steadfast. He took aim with his dominant eye, adjusting for wind factor and the range between the bandit and himself. He breathed out and let loose the arrow. He didn’t stop there and opted to go for another arrow. Breathing, drawing, aiming, exhaling and shooting. He then shoots a third arrow. Third time’s the charm as they might say. He saw his three arrows flew towards his target. He regretted a little for wasting that third arrow since the first and third arrow missed while second arrow actually hit the bandit in the knees. It didn’t kill him but disabling a knee would make sure the bandit stays down. “One down. West side!”
Zenai, in the meantime, observed Eridanus on how is he doing. He was mumbling something, perhaps a prayer. Zenai had a thing about the gods, they were pretty much their own fighting out against each other to prove themselves right. While Zenai does acknowledge certain gods, he had no intention of asking for their help. Zenai believed mortals should deal with their own problems and not so readily plea for the gods for help. However, there are certain times we wished so; Zenai could see some sort of glow coming off of Eridanus as he speaks his prayer and somehow, Zenai could feel that there’s more power to his stance and shot. Eridanus’s bolt flew and half-expected the bolt to hit his target squarely between the eyes of the bandit. Instead, Zenai saw it hit the bandit in the shoulder instead. It was a bit disappointing but at least, he knew that that bandit wouldn’t be swinging any swords anytime soon.
Zenai hid back behind the wall as he figured out what to do next. He was relieved that the eastern and western attacks were nullified and they could concentrate on the northern and southern bandit advance. Anthony could probably handle himself on the northern side by shooting one or two down before engaging in melee. It would wise to send Zenai and Eridanus towards bolstering the southern defense as they were outnumbered. Zenai and Eridanus could tip the odds in their favor but both have to do something really decisive to turn the tide. Zenai was sure Anthony had some ideas but he doesn’t say something in the next three seconds, Zenai will go for the southern defenses and hopes Eridanus will follow him as well.
Actually, up until now, Zenai didn’t need to worry about how the bandits ambushed them so well and now with some of the pressure off, he did. This ambush is too well organized to be just a few bandits sitting and waiting for a random caravan to come by. First off; there were too many of them to begin with. Your average sit-and-wait bandits would have half the numbers he’s been seeing from this bandit mob and that’s the most. Secondly, these guys are definitely ready to take on armed guards. Something you wouldn’t see from your average random raiders. Most would just wait for a single wagon with just poorly armed merchant or driver. Petch it all!
No, this was all planned out too well and for it to be thus, they need to know details of the merchant caravan which includes number of guards, wagons and loot. There must be an insider somewhere. Zenai wondered if he was killed in the initial attack or was it that guard that went to woods and mistakenly shot down by his own employer. He better not assume the latter as he doesn’t know what actually is going on. Better be careful about those around him than thinking the traitor has somehow died. Zenai could trust Eridanus as companion but for Anthony, he didn’t trust so much but he already killed three. Too many to be a traitor. So it had to be one of the drivers or the guards not under Ol’ Leg’s wing. Zenai made sure he had an eye on the guards and driver while he had his other eye on the oncoming attack from the south. He also made sure his sword could be drawn on a moment’s notice so he could slice off the head of traitor-that-be He wondered if Eridanus thought the same as well.
Friendly Units: Fightworthy: 1 Antar, 1 Zenai, 1 Eridanus, 1 Longsword Guard(30 longsword), 1 shortsword guard (30pts shortsword), 2 Caravan Drivers with Crossbows Note: one of the still living guards might be with the bandits XD) Wounded: 1 Merchant, 1 Merchant's son, 1 Driver with broken arm. Already Dead: 3 dead guards: 2 armored, 1 not, Comp. Shortbow, 1 Longbow, 1 Crossbow (used bodies for stuffing up holes in defense - also explains Eridanus' and Zenai's choice of weapons XD.), 1 random guard who died running for the forest. Note: 1 of the extra guards or drivers may be working with the bandits and attempt to stab you in the back XD.
Green is when I'm speaking Common. Blue is when I'm thinking in my Mind. Teal is when everybody else is speaking. Red is when I'm speaking Nari.
The first unlucky sot to attempt to jump over the barrier was a bandit with a longsword, and noth was ready for him. As soon as the man’s shadow could be seen above, Noth’s legs stiffened and propelled him upwards. His left hand stretching high to grab at the man’s elbow to hold his weapon at bay, while he thrust forwards with his gladius. It was a simple technique to be sure, but when one was fighting for their lives, simple seemed to always work better. The bandit fell leaving only the one holding glaive left. Noth turned as he saw a shimmer out of the corner of his eye sweeping towards him. Instinctively, a raised arm brought his teeth gauntlets up to block the incoming strike. Sparks flew from the cold iron of the metal , putting a barrier between him and his opponent’s weapon as the shock resounded through his body.
Meanwhile on the Southern Barricade... The southern crossbowman did their jobs well. Whether this was from necessity, or skill would be left unknown but two crossbow bolts found their targets inside two charging bandits. One of the men cheered a little as he began to load his crossbow again, though his cries would be short lived as a guard on their side bearing a longsword turned and chopped a the other guardsman on the wall below the knee, severing the man’s leg at the knee before turning toward to lash out a leg towards one of the drivers, bowling him over onto his back before raising the blade high to attempt to make the final blow to end the hapless man’s life…
Whether that would succeed or not would depend entirely upon Eridanus and Zenai’s ability to react fast enough to bolster the southern wall. Noth was too busy concentrating on the present quandary of how to kill a man whose weapon favored them in reach…
On the northern barricade... Noth’s left arm came down to grip a part of the wooden haft of the glaive and he pulled the weapon towards him, sliding it further through the teethed gauntlets and point first towards the soil below his feet. He held it there with all his weight before following through with a downwards chop which entered at the bandit’s shoulder and penetrated a few inches diagonally before it stuck in the ribs. The rogue kicked the dying corpse off his blade and turned to see how things on the southern barricade were doing. His grip on his gladius’ hilt tightened as he prepared to spring into the fray.
Already Dead: 3 dead guards: 2 armored, 1 not, Comp. Shortbow, 1 Longbow, 1 Crossbow (used bodies for stuffing up holes in defense - also explains Eridanus' and Zenai's choice of weapons XD.), 1 random guard who died running for the forest.
"I am the Shadow and the smoke in your eyes, I am the ghost that hides in the night." ~Back, but slow.
Zenai ran over towards the southern defenses, seeing as how Anthony was doing alright by himself having taken out the bandits on the northern face. Zenai was quite amazed that he can actually do it all by himself then again, Anthony was one of those veteran mercenaries while Zenai and Eridanus are just newbies who just came into town. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Zenais’ hunch was right and there was indeed a traitor amongst them. One of the extra guards that maimed and killed one his fellows and going for the drivers. Petch! He would have wanted them to man their crossbows and fell the other bandits who were on their way. A life for a life.
Now with the threat of arrows and bolts gone, Zenai ran for the southern wall to bolster the beleaguered defenders and to get rid of the thorn at their side. He threw the composite short bow aside and drew his talon swords. The “sleeeng” sound his talon swords made while it was drawn out of their scabbards was music to Zenai’s ears. Finally, something he can do well enough instead of trying pathetically to shoot a bow. He thought of shooting the traitor guard but he thought otherwise and just went for his talon swords. If he had gone with just shooting his bow, he might have missed and hit one of the relatively innocent drivers instead. Zenai think quickly as he ran south; on one hand, he has to deal with a traitor in their midst and in the other, there’s a whole of enemies coming. Looks like he has to do deal with both situations quickly otherwise they would be overran. He has to do this right in one move.
Too bad for the traitor, he had his back turn and focused on the drivers. A mistake we won’t live to regret. In one motion, Zenai used his primary right arm to swing his sword wide at the traitor’s sword-arm. The talon sword easily sliced through the muscle and bone of the traitor’s sword-arm. A fountain of blood shot up and sprayed everyone in the vicinity with blood of a traitor. The severed arm still clutching the long sword fell onto the ground and in front of the terrified drivers. That should be enough; either the drivers or Eridanus has to finish him if he continues to be a threat. Zenai jumped on the barricade so he can have the advantage of high ground with him.
A bandit with a long sword came at him and tried to slash at Zenai’s feet but Zenai was able to dodge that by doing a short jump. Another swing came by his way but he was able to block it with his sword. It was fairly easy for Zenai to fight an opponent with just one weapon as Zenai had two weapons; one more weapon than the other. However, this swordsman was good as well and repelled Zenai’s own strikes. Both the swordsman and Zenai traded blows, blocks and parries. The cling-clang of a sword fight always excites Zenai. Nothing better than a sword fight between two gentlemen but one isn’t a gentlemen and there’s more coming his way who aren’t so inclined to honor one-on-one fights. The swordsman made a thrust at Zenai’s left leg but Zenai easily saw this coming and lifted his foot up just enough to avoid the sword thrust. He then stomped down on the blade so his opponent couldn’t pull it away for another attack. With his sword stuck between Zenai’s boot and barricade, the swordsman was easy pickings. Zenai went for a cross-slash; his left blade cutting off the sword-arm while the right blade went and slice the swordsman’s throat. More blood sprayed from the open wounds and the red liquid splattered all over Zenai. Oh, wonderful… and I had this clean yesterday! Zenai referring to his armor.
Zenai, without turning his back, shouted, “I hope you guys are done back there. I’m going to need some help here very soon and I mean it!” Zenai hope the drivers would grab a weapon and defend their section of the wall as well as Eridanus and Anthony coming over to deal with the other bandits. Zenai would have gone down there himself but he would be outnumbered and surrounded. Zenai was specifically worries about that pike-man as he could just use his reach and poke them to death. On second thought, Zenai decided to jump off the barricade then run through the oncoming bandits so he can get to the pike-man. Inertia prevents the bandit from just stopping to deal with Zenai but it didn’t stop them from taking a few hacks at him. Zenai dodged under and block blows that would otherwise sliced through his own neck, arms or legs. Zenai, in turn, took a few slashes at them but most were blocked.
Finally, he reached his target, the pike-man. The pike-man lowered his incredibly long weapon hoping Zenai would be stupid enough to impale himself on the weapon. Luckily, Zenai was the smart sort so instead of getting skewered, he used his talon swords in an X-shape manner so he would cupped the pole in-between his blades and lifted it up away from himself. Zenai could see the worried face of the pike-man as his weapon was rendered useless. The pike-man couldn’t just withdraw his pike and thrust at Zenai again as Zenai ran in far too close for the pike to be effective. Zenai used the momentum of his charge to put power into his knee-kick against the pike-man’s crotch. The pike-man bend over as Zenai’s knee made contact with his crotch. He let go off his pike as he tried to sooth the pain around his nether regions. Zenai pommel strike him around the back so he would fall forward while Zenai can get around and face any bandits that actually turn around to deal with Zenai.
Zenai now faced the barricades and could see Eridanus, Anthony and the two drivers getting their act together to help Zenai face the rest of the bandits. If allowed, Zenai would finish off the pike-man and helped the others. If the bandits actually stopped and turn around to face Zenai, Zenai could serve as a distraction while the others hit them from the back. A pincer maneuver, now they have them on the ropes. Still, Zenai had to be careful with his own back as well. Can’t tell if there’s anything else out there that could turn the tide against them. If there was, Zenai would have to run back fast to the besieged little fort in the middle of the road.
Already Dead: 3 dead guards: 2 armored, 1 not, Comp. Shortbow, 1 Longbow, 1 Crossbow (used bodies for stuffing up holes in defense - also explains Eridanus' and Zenai's choice of weapons XD.), 1 random guard who died running for the forest.
Green is when I'm speaking Common. Blue is when I'm thinking in my Mind. Teal is when everybody else is speaking. Red is when I'm speaking Nari.
Eridanus saw that the archer was doing quite well on the north, expertly displaying his obviously superior skills, and he sighed with relief, for it was always great to have a skilled warrior by one's side especially in times of emergency. Violent emergency. They were heavily outnumbered and were in a pretty bad position, but thanks to Anthony's quick thinking and the no-questions-asked co-operation from everyone else, everything was done efficiently and they managed to take down quite a bit of the bandits without suffering casualties.
The Vantha would be speaking too soon - in a mental sense of course - for as he turned to the south to assess the situation, one of the guards suddenly swung his long sword at one of the warriors, severing him below the knee. He gasped at the audacity of the traitor and suddenly everything made sense. It was like his brain was merely considering about the various chains of events, and this turncoat was the key to all of it suddenly making sense. Of course bandits weren't always this organized. In fact if he weren't in a mortal peril he would have marvelled at how the efficiency of the operation was rivalled military planning with intelligence and surveillance. The well set-up ambush and positioning, as well as the numbers fielded by the bandits, prove that this was no normal highway-jack, and this traitor made it clear that it wasn't.
He scrambled on his feet, strapping the crossbow at small of his back, parallel to his long swords, in order to save one of the drivers who was in danger of being stabbed by the traitor. He needn't have bothered, for his friend Zenai was quick on the draw and he dashed forward, killing the traitor in a flurry of righteous anger. Following close on his tail, he leaped forward, only to change directions to deal with another group of bandits charging ahead while Zenai dealt with his crowd.
Earlier on, he was fumbling, his confidence not being boosted by his poor skill in ranged combat. Now, now, was his forte, or at least an area that he was relatively more comfortable in. He grinned at the rag-tag group of bandits in front of him, and he dashed towards not the nearest bandit, but the one further on the right who possessed the short sword. He fully intended to exploit his superior reach, and was not worried of letting anyone breach the fortress for he knew that the highly skilled Anthony would not be far behind, and he would easily mop up any breachers.
He bounded across the plains like a gazelle, reaching the bandit wielding the short sword and he drew his steel sword in one swift motion to begin with the customary slash. The screech of metal against its holder rang in the air like music, and was met with the firm crash of blade against blade, shattering the sound in the air. He used his other hand to draw the cold-iron blade, swinging it in a parallel arc to the ground, forcing the bandit to step back for he only had one sword and it was already locked in combat. This was how Eridanus intended to dominate the man, by fully exploiting his extra blade and superior reach. He did not want to waste time, and as he swung his blades towards the bandit, the man half parrying and half dodging, he could see that the man was beginning to tire, just as he himself was beginning to tire from the exertion.
He could have sworn he felt whispers in his mind, but dismissed it to be his scholarly personality and he whispered once again the incantations to bring strength to his upper torso. He focused on the stream of djed this time on the middle part of his torso, ranging from the thigh to the middle of his chest. He did not want to drain too much from his legs, for the exhaustion of extended physical exertion was beginning to catch up with him and he did not want to risk collapsing on the ground if his legs gave way. That would be to anti-climatic, not to mention personally lethal. His arms growing stronger, he felt like his shoulders and upper chest could handle the stress of more force and impact, but the increase in power was not as much as it would be if he used the normal incantation. There were trades-off in matters like this and Flux tended to be zero-sum game, even a negative-sum one if one were unfamiliar or inept.
He continued to use his old strength, trading blows with the bandit and the bandit began to get used to his attacks, even trying to gain an edge by changing his rhythm of slashing to surprise Eridanus. However, the Vantha had his hidden ace in the hole, and he met the bandit's surprise with his own huge one. He tensed his muscles, and delivered a huge slash downwards, the bandit meeting it with his usual dexterity. However, the bandit was already used to his previous strength and thus was unprepared for this new influx of force, surprise colouring his face as he wrist bended in a way that muscles shouldn't bend, his legs trembling as it fought to keep him standing. Using this window of opportunity, he swung his other blade in the usual wide arc, and the bandit tried to dodge as per the previous time.
Unfortunately for the brigand, the stress and surprise from the previous attack had caused his legs to be in an unfavourable position for manoeuvring and he only dodged half the distance he should dodge, the cold iron rending a huge laceration across his torso. He released his blade, collapsing to the ground suddenly as if he were an automation which was shut-down, and Eri glanced around to assess the battie-field situation again for his next target, not bothering to follow-up on the man for if he were dead - rest in peace. If not, he would be too incapacitated to do anything combat-worthy and so there would be no harm in leaving him there. The Vantha found cold-blooded murder distasteful and he tried to avoid unnecessary killing if he could, though a small whisper in his mind reminded him that his actions were more of a need to conserve energy to deal with more foes than any high-minded ethical values.
Last edited by Eridanus on November 3rd, 2011, 4:37 am, edited 1 time in total.
NOTICE: I am currently mostly inactive til August. As such, guild activities are temporarily halted (watch out for major revamps, changes and organizations when I'm back in full force). Any activity with Eri will be rather slow as well, but I am slowly readjusting back to "Mizahar life", so to speak, so do PM me if we have a thread that I left hanging and we'll talk.
Antar saw Zenai's quick action helped save one of the drivers whose very life flashed before his eyes and as Eridanus and Zenai went over the barricade Noth pulled the man to his feet to get him out of his stupor. The driver with the crossbow would not disappoint the others as he'd blearily set another bolt across the lead line to cock the crossbow's latching mechanism at the ready so he might fire again.
The other driver did the same, seeking to target those Zenai and Eridanus let fall to the ground, but their aim was blocked by the two combatants so they waited and bided their time as the last of the bandit wave skittered to a halt. The enemy's numbers were caught in a pincer move between Eridanus and Zenai. A female bandit wielding tonfas showed her back to the rogue, and he wasted no time in shifting his gladius from his right to his left and using the now freed hand to draw one of his kukri from its sheathe.
Choking up on the handle he aimed his throw, and soon enough the sixteen inch blade hurtled forwards, end over end to lodge itself in the back of the woman, bearing her to the ground in a cry of pain. The rogue followed up this attack by vaulting forwards to deliver the coup de grace with his gladius being thrust downards through the back of the ribs to the heart before he twisted the blade inside her.
Out of the corner of his eye as he engaged the man, he saw Eridanus fling himself at one wielding a shortsword and begin to exchange a flurry of blows as Zenai's reckless charge paid off to buy them the time it took to split the remainder. He saw Eridanus batter his opponents blade aside and deliver a scathing blow across the short swordsman's chest. With another dead, the chaos of pitched battle reached a new height and the archer's survival instincts turned his attention back towards the only threat left; a lone longswordsman was in his path he knew what he had to do.
No mercy, no quarter... unless it would surmount to torturing one for information later.
Antar launched himself at his foe as the man turned to face him and began to weave a protective envelope of flurried slashes about his figure. But Noth met them in kind, twisting the flat of his blade off the block into a series of varied thrusts as adrenaline began to push him towards his second wind.
The last bandit's skills seemed to be better then the rest, and he slowly traded space for time as he was pushed back step by step, and Noth called for one of the others to flank him to prevent him from running back into the woods. Perhaps Zenai would have answered his call, if he had not found himself brought to the ground by a pikeman swinging the haft of his weapon wildly to trip him. Perhaps Eridanus would go to his aid? Perhaps he would come to Noth's? Whatever the case, Antar knew he could hold his own for just a bit longer if it was necessary even against a man whose skill seemed to warrant a need for assistance. But that could mean that one of the bandits might get far enough a way to be out of the crossbowman's range.
But what of the drivers who were waiting to take their shots? Well that question was quickly two shots of their bolts making any of the hurt bandits deader then dead as they began to exact their revenge upon the fallen bandits.
As he made another feint at the last swordsman's defenses he cried out, "Take one alive! Then throw the bodies and weapons back into the stronghold of wagons. Leave nothing for any other enemy to use!"
Already Dead: 3 dead guards: 2 armored, 1 not, Comp. Shortbow, 1 Longbow, 1 Crossbow (used bodies for stuffing up holes in defense - also explains Eridanus' and Zenai's choice of weapons XD.), 1 random guard who died running for the forest.
Luckily for Zenai, Eridanus and Anthony came out of the defenses to help Zenai deal with the bandits before they even reached the makeshift walls. With Zenai on the bandits’ backs, Eridanus and Anthony pressed with their attack, Eridanus taking out the swordsmen with the short sword quite easily; noting that like Zenai, Eridanus used his advantage of wielding another weapon to put the bandit on the defensive and eventually, striking him down when a window of opportunity came. Anthony, taking his own opportunity, has thrown some kind of throwing knife into tonfa-bandit’s back and finishing her by impaling his short sword into her body. Looks like they have the bandits on the run but Zenai had something else to deal with.
The pike-man seemed to have recovered and want extract revenge from Zenai. The bandit grabbed his pike and swings it around to trip Zenai. He should have killed him when he had the chance but then again, he was more worried about the other bandits who weren’t incapacitated. Zenai tripped and fell back as the pike was brought around faster than Zenai anticipated. The pike-man went for another swing but Zenai stabbed his talon sword into the ground on his left to block it. Blade and pole met and Zenai could feel the resonance from the clash. The pike-man, now on one of his knees, swings his pike the other way hoping to catch Zenai from the right. Zenai did the same on his opposite side and his grounded talon sword was able to block the attack. Zenai then used the grounded talon swords as leverage to pull and push himself up and charge towards the pike-man.
Zenai was already anticipating the pike-man’s backlash and could see the move as if it was loudly announced to him. Zenai run towards to the crouching pike-man and leaped above the oncoming pike-swing. Since the weapon was unwieldy in close quarter combat, Zenai was able to block and dodge the rest of the swings. Finally he came upon the pike-man who had fear in his eyes. Zenai stamped on his hands so the pike-man would let go of the weapon in pain and the pike-man, in turn, let out a yelp. Unlike Anthony, Zenai instead slashed the pike-man’s throat and another splash of blood came forth. The pike-man chocked and gurgled as he had his down blood flooding his windpipes. Zenai mercifully ended the bandit’s life by stabbing his sword into his eye and while he could hear the crack of bone, the pike-man instantly fell lifeless as the Zenai’s talon sword must have penetrated the bone so it would impale the bandit’s brain. Zenai kicked the body so it would fall over backwards.
He then heard Anthony’s call, it seems that there troubles weren’t over yet. There was still one more bandit and that bandit needs to be taken alive. Eridanus would have to take care of that since Zenai is a bit too far out and Zenai wanted to carry the body the dead pike-man along with his pike. The pike would be more useful with them as a defensive weapon. Zenai sheaved his swords back into their scabbards and carried the dead over his shoulder, the blood oozing down his back. That was going to be shyke to clean. He then took hold of the pike and dragged it as he ran back to their fort while carrying the dead pike-man on his stronger shoulder.
As he ran, he got ready to toss the body over the wall. “Move it!” He shouted to the drivers while he gets ready to catapult the body. Stopping just before the wall, Zenai fling the body just over the wall. He then jumped into the fort himself with pike in tow. He then lay against the wall to recover his breath and energy. He looked back at the driver who did quite well for themselves. Zenai handed the pike to them. “Here, this is going to be useful when the next charge comes in.” He looks around for his composite short bow and just remembered he toss on the western side. If there was more on the way, a few more arrow shots would be able to thin them down and tip the odds in their favor. Zenai rolled over to that section of the wall and grabbed his bow along with any arrows he can use. He nocked an arrow and look over the wall.
If they were more of them, where could they be? Zenai look around his side of the wall. Nothing for the moment it seems. He then rolled over to the eastern side to have a look. Again, nothing it seems. The southern reaches? The two drivers got that covered with their crossbows and they’re able to cover Eridanus and Anthony if they need to retreat. Speaking of Eridanus and Anthony, they should be able to handle on their own and they better deal with last bandit before the rest comes for them. No telling how many more are out there waiting for them. Zenai then remembered the hills to the north. Zenai almost entirely forgotten about the range units from the northern hills and the corpses that Anthony laid there. Such a mess.
He put the bow around his torso so he had some free hands to work with. He again rolled and tumbled to get to the northern face. There were three bodies. He pulled them inside the safety of the fort so Zenai can examine them without being hit by an opportunistic arrow. He also made sure the bodies are really dead by slamming their heads against the ground really hard. Nothing from all of them. Good and now, Zenai can get to inspecting their persons. Nothing much from aside from their weapons: a long sword, a short sword and a glaive. Zenai tossed the weapons and whatever armor they have in the pile in the middle. Zenai then used the bodies to cover any damages that occurred during the fight and any leftovers are used to reinforce.
Green is when I'm speaking Common. Blue is when I'm thinking in my Mind. Teal is when everybody else is speaking. Red is when I'm speaking Nari.
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. In the meantime... I think that pikeman should do something dastardly since you left him alive. Like trip you XD.