Odd job gone wrong(Eridanus, Zenai)

by **Antar** on November 11th, 2011, 5:59 pm

During the quick run towards the treeline a few arrows hit the ground in their wake but eventually they made it through the hedgebrush and into the forest proper. The rogue turned towards the other two and saw them come to a halt to rest inside the relative cover of the woods, but for safety's sake he lead them in a half turn behind a thick pocket of trees. It was a good thing he did, as a stray arrow plunked into where Zenai had been standing just moments before.

He took a swig out of his waterskin and drew his bow. He turned to survey the area around them. The last thing Antar wanted was to caught unawares in the woods by anyone. So he stood watch a little as the others took a slight break to regain their breathe. He knew the south woods better then most because of his job keeping him here for long hours at a time. The South woods was a dangerous place in its own right, and had its own denizens that prowled, including bears and wolves. The wolves tended to stray into the Dust Pits sometimes, but no one really knew why. In the woods though, some of them tended to stay away from men, but on the rare occasion small amounts of their numbers had developed a taste for flesh, and the people of sunberth seemed to be a prime source of meat, even if it probably tasted horrible.

Antar didn't really know what people flesh tasted like, he'd probably have to ask his myrian friend about that if he ever got curious. It would be wonderful to respond to someone saying the old expression, 'You can kill me but you can't eat me' with the terse reply, 'Wanna bet?'

It was odd how the mind wandered sometimes and he forced his perceptions back into focus as he looked towards Zenai and Eridanus. The latter seemed to be in some sort of trouble of sorts, his legs were slightly shaking and Noth realized he had run quite quickly.

His curiousity would get the best of him as he surged a bit of djed to his eyes to start allowing him to See the ethfael's aura. It was a strange one to be sure, glittering like liquid silver but one of the two main things which drew his notice was the auras shape. Even in Eridanus' human form it seemed to still have horns jutting from its head. That was pretty much the first thing he noticed, the second thing was the streams of djed within the eth's body were going haywire as they seemed thickened towards the man's legs, and a ghastly purply color reminding him of veins seemed to be prominent around the man's torso. They seemed to be seeping color from the rest of him.

"Zenai, take watch a moment." Noth muttered as he strode towards Eridanus' side, purposefully moving around in front of the man. He leaned in close to the man to hiss out his next words, pitching it low so Zenai would not hear anything but muffled sounds. Regain control Eth! You want to do more, but from now on do less! You're at your limits, use your physical skills now, leave your abilities alone. I don't care if you want to do more: Do Less! I will not hesitate to knock you unconscious should you begin toying with the Whispers. It would be a courtesy and I would much expect the same from you if the situations were reversed. Now regain control Your aura is a mess!" He watched in silence as the ethfael made a few hand gestures, seeing the changes slowly come about. When his aura flashed the cherry red signifying the onset of pain, Antar's hushed words would try to jerk him back to his attention to stop, refocus and try again.

Slowly, Noth watched the veins of color turn from purple, to deep blue, and then to green as Eridanus regained a bit of control. The plants around Eridanus seemed to be glowing with a hazy green, so he calmly closed his eyes a moment to breathe deep and focus meditatively for a few seconds. He was shutting down the djed flow that activated his auristics use. Control was a thin fine line, he had known about that, and to his own detriment he had let the whispers take him once. It had ended up costing him a shirt, and gained him the most horrible slap across the face that he had received from a woman yet to date.

He still had to find a means to make it up to her, darn woman had run off to Mura for a bit to give a little tyke away. Damn shame too... He kinda liked the morning tea. He noted the straying of his thoughts as a clear sign that he had stressed himself a little too much too. From here on out, the rogue would only rely on the strength of his arms, the sighting of his bow, and his senses to complete the day's task. He'd only use reimancy as a last resort.

Taking a large swig from his water skin, he'd hand the flask over to Eridanus and force him to drink. He hoped the cool water would clear the man's head enough for them to continue on. Sighing loudly enough for the others to hear him he spoke their next goal aloud, "We're striking west, keep low and in the shadows and stay hidden from sight as much as possible. Keep watchful. We'll cross to the hills where their distance from the forest is least. We'll be able to cross in two ways, the slow and steady method on our stomachs to keep in the brush, or we can dash it. But whatever the case I'll take point, so move out and stay as quite as possible. Step where I step!"

With those words, Noth's walked right past Eridanus and Zenai and began to take a purposeful stride as he held his bow in an easy grip. His feet began walking the ground in a heel toe pattern to muffle the soles of his boots. His eyes measured the ground ahead as he quickened the pace slightly as he began to move across the soft forest loam as he took certain steps to avoid noise producers like brush and twigs. They had a good half mile to travel like this, and he hoped the other two could keep up.

by **Zenai** on November 11th, 2011, 6:52 pm

Zenai spat a small curse as the spot where he was standing just before was hit by an arrow. Zenai inwardly thanked Anthony for his foresight and offered prayer and thanks to Avalis for giving Anthony her blessings. Even before then, Zenai suspected that, despite being given covering-fire by those in the fort, the bandits on the hill were still able to spot Zenai and the rest moving for the forest to the south. Zenai abandoned his quiet advance and just went for a full run as well as running in zigs and zags to throw off the bandit’s aim. Petch them for having competent observational and archery skills. It was foolish for him to think just having reached the tree line would give him the protection from the bandit’s arrows. Anthony beckoned them to a spot where there were more trees to take the shot for them. Zenai didn’t mind Anthony leading them as ranger seems to know what he’s doing and Zenai had no qualms following orders from the more experienced mercenary. Zenai mimicked whatever Anthony was doing whenever possible and to the best of his own abilities which weren’t much really. Anthony had taken a gulp full of water and drew his long bow out. Zenai did the same; taking two gulps of water then drawn one of his talon swords. Anthony may have sensed that there are other dangers in the forest such as other bandits, wolves, monkeys and monsters.

While in the thicker pockets of trees, Anthony stopped as if he wanted to get his bearings. It’s not like Zenai was complaining but he wants to get this over with. Then again, he saw the merit stopping every so often to catch their breath and keep tabs on their current situation. He took another swig of his water-skin to keep himself hydrated. Anthony then came over and told Zenai to keep watch on this side while he wanted to check on things on Eridanus’s side. Zenai nodded since there’s no need or reason to question his intentions and orders now. Anthony hasn’t led them astray…yet. Zenai kept watch on his side and trusted the others to guard the other side. Zenai had his ears open more than his eyes; reason being that it was quite dark and sight is becoming less effective. Maybe his eyes were still adjusting to the twilight and darkness. He heard the typical sounds of a forest; crickets, winds and an assortment of hoots and howls. Mizahar is a wild place and the mortal races still had to battle nature itself for dominance. Nature was not afraid to use its fangs, claws and primal fury against the more advance races of Mizahar. The only appropriate and practical response was to build cities to keep the wilds out and smith weapons to kill them all. Soon, the mortal races will take the wilds as their own and hold dominion of everything and anything in Mizahar.

Zenai also heard the muffled discussion taking place between his two other comrades. Zenai was a little bit jealous that Anthony had apparently chosen Eridanus over Zenai. Perhaps they saw their prettiness as a common trait between them both while Zenai was a dirty mongrel with messy red hair. However, Zenai prided himself for being independent. He doesn’t like to be bogged down by some people but he does see the merit of teamwork and having allies. No, Anthony has ordered Zenai to keep watch; an important yet dull task but still important enough. Zenai surmised that Anthony had some kind of plan which involves Eridanus. Again, it’s that jealousy within Zenai that irritates his heart. He squashed it with pragmatism; he wants to live and Anthony would surely had the best of intentions to do so and it just so happens he need Eridanus’s help to carry it out.

With some last few muffled words and a sigh from Anthony, Anthony had again laid out their plan which was pretty much the same before. Now that they’re in the southern forest, they would double-time it to the west before moving up onto the hills and engaging the bandits thus ending this whole fiasco. Hopefully, the bandit satisfied themselves by shooting arrows at the merchant’s group while Zenai and the rest do their things. The rest of the briefing was pretty much try to neither be seen nor heard by the bandits and other dangers within the forest during the entire advance. A simple enough plan but Zenai isn’t one for subtlety especially since his knightly training didn’t call for stealth. Still, he was willing to listen and learn, and done as he is told. Anthony then strides and passes them, and Zenai followed suit.

Zenai followed Anthony’s path and tried mimicked his stealth skills even if it was paltry effort. Zenai observed what he does and analyzed why he does it. He kept to the shadows of the tree line so they were veiled from the bandit’s eyes. Anthony strides in a low posture which would make him a smaller target when it comes to being shot at. It also allows him to hide behind small bushes where the bandit’s line of sight is obscured by the bushy bush. Zenai also noticed that his own footsteps are relatively louder than Anthony’s. Zenai felt clumsy but observed how Anthony walked. Instead of stomping like Zenai was doing, Anthony soften his landing by slowly place his foot on the ground; heels first then placing the rest of his foot down from back to front then finally, the toes. Anthony rinsed and repeated. At first, Zenai didn’t know how he does it; it looked so easy but eventually, Zenai got the gist of it. Zenai also had to be careful of stepping anything that could signal everyone and everything within shouting that Zenai sneaking behind the bandits. Like sneaking, avoiding twigs on the ground or rustling the leaves and branches so much is a lot harder than one would think. Zenai was confident he could do this trek easy and without tiring himself out. He was very much used to running and climbing with the equivalent weight of full plate armor being worn. All those grueling hours, days, weeks, months and even years just to train himself so he can get used to physical-exerting activities with full plate armor on had paid off and is now quite useful in this situation but mostly likely, keeping quiet will be more of a challenge to Zenai.

by **Eridanus** on November 12th, 2011, 9:53 am

As the Ethaefal attempted to redirect his djed streams back to normal, he heard a low hiss demanding him to stop using any more magic in the following conflict that would come, followed by a sharp pain as his vision temporarily went red for a second before returning back to normal. He felt his body feeling quite alien to him, and he could feel djed in places where it should not be - in excess in some areas and lacking in others. He quickly fed a tiny bit of djed into his eyes and he looked down at himself, seeing the familiar mist wrapped around himself as his aura, but the shape did not correspond to his body shape, with odd blotches and protrusions here and there especially at his lower torso.

Anthony continued to whisper to him, and it brought him back to the present. Eri closed his eyes, severing the djed that would continue his use of Auristics for he had no more need to further look to know the state he was in. He was glad the rogue pointed him in the right direction by informing him the mess his aura was in, and a personal glance corresponded to Anthony's observations. He summarily cleared the thoughts from his head, trying his best to ignore the dull ache that now thrummed in his body after the onset of the sharp pain, and when he was focused enough a map of his djed streams popped up in his mind as he expected.

Like a child moulding a block of impressionable clay, he treated his astral body as such, pushing certain aspects of his astral body back into position, redirecting other streams into their normal positions. After a few chimes, the Ethaefal felt a sense of ease and his madly pounding heart began to calm down as his body recognized a return to its proper state.

He opened his eyes to find Anthony handing him a flask and he accepted it gratefully, hydrating himself and moistening his dry and clammy lips. Handing the flask back, he nodded imperceptibly to the rogue as a sign of his understanding of what he said earlier, and the rogue proceeded to outline their strategy to him and Zenai.

Eridanus observed Anthony then taking out a bow and striding purposefully in a direction, and he similarly took out the crossbow he had appropriated from the merchant that he, fortunately, had the vision to sling on his back. He checked the weapon to find a bolt already loaded, and he kept his trigger finger out of the trigger to avoid accidental discharge - the only thing worse than accidentally killing oneself was to accidentally kill one's allies. He used his other hand to heft the business end of the crossbow for balance and he began to trudge along.

His boots stepped on a twig, breaking it, and Zenai threw a disapproving glance his way, and Eri raised an arm in apology. Now while he walked, he looked down as often as he looked up to see where he was going, ensuring that he walked on soft ground and avoiding any dry twigs or basically objects on the ground that would give a loud sound if he should step on them. If he should find it impossible to avoid them, he would use his boots gently brush them aside to create a path. This would make the group slower than if they had just briskly strode forward not caring about creating noise, but for now, stealth was the key and if they were to succeed in creeping up on the bandits the element of surprise would afford them the advantage that they very well needed to triumph.

by **Antar** on November 13th, 2011, 3:40 am

The three's passage through the woods was a time consuming one, with Antar making his way to the brush line several times to check that the bandits were not attacking the remnants of the guard they had left behind. But soon enough the party came to the point where there was only a short dash across the road, before the hills began, and a slight climb.

Waiting and watching the sky was an interesting thing of sorts, the moon was peeking on the horizon, but the sun was setting. It just seemed to be one of those days, and the strange sort that enacted the change in Eridanus which he foretold. Antar had a bit of trouble of not looking at him funny when the horns were so prevalent on his head.

They reminded him of stag horns, and he wondered what would happen if he could mount them on his trophy wall. Of course, he'd also heard a rumor an eth's horns disappeared after they were dead. He never had the chance to kill an ethfael before, at least not in their pretty sparkly forms. He'd have to try it one time or two against one that ticked him off. Just in case it was actually false and he could have a nice new set of horns for his trophy wall.

But that was in the future, the here and now screamed at him to focus on the present. Looking at the other two, he made a twist motion at his throat to signal that from this point forwards , silence was the golden rule. If they had to speak, hand gestures were to be the norm of the encounter. After all, they were heading straight into bandit territory.

With a quick pump of his fist to signal the start, Antar rose to sprint across the road as quickly as possible. It was probably one of the most heartpounding ten second runs of his life, just out of the forests, over the road and smack dab into hiding behind some bolders and a slight incline upwards into the hills.

He didn't stop there though as he began to enter the hillsides at a quicker, if quieter speed. He stayed off the hard rock, and kept to the dirt and soil as he rounded a sharp bend. Soon enough, the distance was engulfed as the light grew dimmer and dimmer. It was almost night, and they were very close to the area where the bandits he thought the bandits had been present before. He turned and met the other two men's eyes for a moment and nodded succinctly as he knocked an arrow to his bow.

They were less then a hundred yards from the enemy's position... and in the most dangerous position of the day so far.

100 yards ahead of the party...

The bandit leader cursed and looked down at the overturned carriages in disgust. It was a blight to his eye, a sore in his arse. Something he wanted to crush. They'd failed to hit the deserters before, but that was a trifling matter. Soon, they would charge and kill those which remained... soon...

by **Zenai** on November 13th, 2011, 2:44 pm

Stealth. Phft! Who needs it? Oh right, us! Zenai reflected, taking careful steps so he wouldn’t make the loudest of noise in the entire forest. However, sounds seem louder when you want to be quiet. Every crunch of the grass was akin to a breaking of window. Every breath you exhaled was like you’re playing the trumpet. Every rustle of bushes and branches were like jingling of hundreds of little bells. This was made worse by the fact that Zenai worn heavy armor; it wasn’t that he was impeded by it but the amount of noise the armor made had to force Zenai to advance much more slowly so his armor would be clanging. They’ve been sneaking behind the trees and bushes for quite some time. It was in this kind of situation where your perception of time would be confused. He was glad that the sun is still just over the horizon to give him some notion of the time that has passed. Anthony was doing well for himself; Zenai suspected that he has been through this forest often enough and well versed in the art of stealth. Eridanus faired just as good as Zenai which isn’t a lot to say; they weren’t ones for the sneaking.

Anthony stopped and Zenai stopped as well. The Tagger wondered if there was something amiss. Were they spotted? Is the fort under attack already? A monster nearby that could rip them limb from limb? Several situations ran through Zenai’s mind and he hoped that none would come true. Anthony signaled them to be silent from this point forward. They must be very close to the remaining bandits and the element of surprise was about the only advantage on their side. Zenai wondered why he knew the hand sign so immediately. Another flashback and Zenai recollected the memories of his days as a Syliran Knight. Hand signs were often used by sergeants to give orders especially when in the midst of battle and helmets would muffle any efforts to shout orders. This was usually followed by a trumpeter trumpeting orders so all could hear the orders or so he was taught. Zenai simply nodded. There was no need for them to speak. All of them knew what to do at that point and anything important that needs to be relayed can either been done through hand gestures or if most dire and complicated, actually verbal warnings.

Anthony sprinted forward and Zenai followed, going as fast as his legs could carry him. He was able to keep up with Anthony during the ten-second dash. Speed was more of the essence when out in the open but Zenai still tried to keep a quiet stride when sprinting. It was still too early in the evening to alert those bandits. Zenai didn’t even think during those ten seconds as he lets his leg muscles do all the work and let his brains “close their eyes”. Zenai also made a little prayer to Aquiras so the god would lend him speed just enough to cross the road without being noticed. Perhaps it was the wrong god to pray to but Aquiras was the only god he can think of to ask for a blessing. Before he knew it, Zenai had reached the other side of the road and almost ran pass Anthony. Zenai compensate by rolling behind a boulder next to Anthony so he would be out of the bandit’s sights. Optimistically, Zenai assumed that the bandits neither heard nor seen nothing of Zenai and the others. Zenai looked back whether if Eridanus made it and wished hard that his glow doesn’t give away their positions otherwise they’re going to be in big trouble.

Zenai look to Anthony for their next phase of the plan and the ranger only nodded while nocking an arrow. It was fight time. Zenai slowly drew his talon swords out, ready for the conflict-that-will-be. At the direction Anthony is looking at, Zenai guessed the bandit is just up that hill. Petch! This was not a good position even if there were to catch them by surprise. Fighting an opponent while he was on a hill was just bad tactics and only done in the most desperate of situations. First off, they would be slowed down just by the fact that they need to climb uphill. It would tire them out in addition to the trekking they did through the forest earlier. Secondly, the bandits could easily counter-attack by charging down the hill themselves and overwhelm Zenai and the others. Zenai summoned whatever energy reserves he had and mentally forced his muscles to work overtime. They could rest once they’re done with this entire fiasco. Zenai also took the time before they need to charge up that hill for a few seconds of resting and stretching before the charge.

Zenai hoped they would catch the bandits off guard and maybe they would have a chance at routing them thus salvaging whatever and whoever is left of the merchant caravan. He also expected the merchant to pay double or even triple the fees he promised Zenai. Boy, he is not going to hear the end of this from Old Leg. The old man would probably berate and nag at him for going off to do a job not under his jurisdiction. More salt and pepper rubbed into his already and still bleeding wound. Zenai would also be served with a side of mashed potatoes. And Carsten! Zenai had promised he would buy drinks tonight when he got back. She is going to enact her on punishment on the Guppie by buying the next round of ale for the next week. Zenai could say goodbye to a few days’ worth of salary. Those are not going to happen, not when Zenai still had some life in him. He is going to beat those bandits and make them regret ever crossing this Tagger.

by **Eridanus** on November 14th, 2011, 2:49 pm

They strode forward in silence, the fleet-footed Antar checking the brush line several times during their trek while the Ethaefal and his friend Zenai tried their best not to move too noisily and unwittingly giving away their position. It seemed that the bandits had not noticed their sprint towards their forest and their current attempt at flanking them, and Eri wanted to keep it that way.

He was already fatigued by the previous bout of fighting, and he knew that his other two comrades were not in top form either. Anthony had warned him about not using any more magic and he trusted the more experienced mage's judgement, for he suspected that he might have yielded to the unnatural euphoria and the inevitable overgiving that would follow if he had continued. Still, this meant that one more trick in his arsenal was considered off-limits to him for all purposes and intent in the upcoming skirmish, and he felt uncomfortable at not having this form of security - even psychologically speaking - available to him.

Eri found Anthony giving him several more looks of undisguised curiosity and he shrugged when their eyes met, silently telling him, "No worries about the staring; I get that all the time". Still, he feel slightly unnerved by the contemplative glance that the archer gave him, and he simply put it up to his nerves about their chances of success at the upcoming battle.

When they reached the end of where trees could provide them visible cover, Anthony made a gesture to them that either meant he wanted someone dead or absolutely silence from the two. Eri was not skilled in these kind of team-based lingo, and so he just assumed the two to be on the safer side of things, that Anthony wanted them to be silent and the bandits dead, which was probably a no-brainer.

WIth a pump of his fist, Eri looked in bewilderment as the archer suddenly sprinted forward, and Zenai continued not far behind.

Ah right, he wants us to run.

He was the last one of the party again, though this time he did not have flux available to boost his speed. He placed the crossbow back on his back so that his arms would not bogged down by the heavy weapon, and he sprung into a sprint as well, hearing his breath in short jerky instances as his heart pounded furiously at providing enough blood for his body to function. It felt like forever, even though it probably lasted at most ten seconds, and he willed his tired legs to continue going, his burning lungs to continue sustaining him for just that little bit more.

The torture ended, and he rolled like Zenai, except that it was a result of his fatigue and he did not want to look idiot and non-tactical by simply collapsing on the floor. He felt his back hit against the back of a trunk and he remained in that position, the huge tree serving as the cover and concealment that would need.

Hearing the sharp ring of steel against sheath as Zenai drew his talon swords, Eri turned to look at his party to see Anthony already nocking his bow, and he sighed, rising from his comfortable position to follow the group.

He reached behind him and unstrapped the crossbow that he had appropriated from the merchant's wagon, checking that the safety trigger was still engaged - and it was - and inspecting the weapon again to make sure that the bolt remained securely in place. He supported the crossbow with his other arm and he trekked on, his heart beating even heavily due to the creeping exhaustion as well as the anticipation of the upcoming clash.

by **Antar** on November 16th, 2011, 12:13 am

He was tiring... anyone would after such a prolonged conflict of running, and the armor wasn't helping to limit his fatigue. But he pressed on, the bandits were up ahead, he could hear their muttering voices, and a single mistep would throw them all right into the midst of danger. In short... this was the most hazardous part of the fight.

Scaling a short rock on all fours, Antar took the high ground to gain a better vantage point where the bandits were positioned. He had to move extremely slow to prevent his armor or robes from scuffing on the cold stone , all while keeping his bow above and the strain on one of his arms to propel himself forwards was almost unbearable.

But he suffered in silence as he crept forwards and by that act he was rewarded for his efforts. Down below them in the hills, about fifty feet away in a small thirty foot clearing nestled between three large rocks as cover, a bandit leader and four subordinates gazed with hungry eyes down towards the camp. The archers held a firm grip along their bows as they began to ready themselves to cover their leaders charge.

Without a word, Antar turned towards the other two at the base of the rock he was on and flashed a open hand, with all five fingers spread out. They he returned two fingers towards his eye to indicate that he could see them, and then with one hand he signalled the positions. The archers were towards the right, and three were to the left, each one oriented towards the camp.

Motioning for them to be ready to attack, Antar stood and sighted down at one of the archers with his long bow. He waited there, judging for the wind, and the distance as the others manuevered closer to the bandits. When they were in position, he would let the arrow fly towards one of the archers, intent to take out the long ranged aspects first before they could orient themselves to deliver more danger to the merchant's caravan below.

As soon as it hit, he'd reach for his sword and begin his charge...

by **Zenai** on November 16th, 2011, 3:54 am

Zenai stealthily followed Anthony as he climbed up the hill. Zenai had to regulate his breathing consciously otherwise he could be taking gulps of air and exhaling it like he can breathe fire out of his maw from both being too excited and exhausted from the climb uphill. It would have alerted the bandits to their position but Zenai used the battle discipline he had learned during his younger years to calm himself down before the battle. This was a tense situation as this could either make or break them; either they stand over the corpses of the bandits and claim victory or be struck down and have their own corpses picked at by the vulture-bandits. They were on top of the hill and Anthony beckoned them to stay where they are and keep quiet while he creeps over a rock to have a better look of their situation. After some time, Anthony signaled back: Spread out. Keep an eye out. Wait, that wasn’t right. Five. I see. Yeah, that was made much more sense to Zenai. He presumes Anthony spotted the five bandits that Zenai had known while extracting intelligence from the captured bandit. It was just a matter of time now.

Anthony nocked one of his arrows and Zenai assumed he was taking aim at one of the bandits. Hope he chose to take out one of the stronger-looking ones thus leaving them to deal with the weaker ones. Zenai held onto his talon swords more tightly as he tensed up for the downhill charge. He had been crouching as if ready to run a competitive running race. Zenai licked his lips as it was quite dry from all the exhausting run and climb just to get where they are. Anthony fired his arrow and didn’t wait for it to hit its target. The veteran mercenary took out his sword and started his charge. Zenai, ever his subordinate for this one mission, charged into the fray himself with talon swords out. After a couple of long strides, he saw the bandits just over the horizon and now within his field of vision, he saw there were five bandits and assess which he would go for. He wanted to go for a relatively easy target then going for the next hardest. He picked his target; a bandit-swordsman with a gladius. Zenai could make quick work of him and dispatch him before turning his attention to the other bandits and doing the same to them.

Zenai charged down the hill and hoped the bandit still hasn’t seen them coming until one of them is hit by Anthony’s arrow or Zenai and the others would come into contact whichever they noticed first. Finally, he was going down a hill; an easy run downwards that Zenai could easily gather momentum for his initial attack. Zenai raised his talon swords high in the air to get ready for a power strike against the bandit-swordsman. The bandits must have noticed them by now because either they saw one of their own got hit by an arrow from the back or the heard the footsteps of three charging swordsmen. Zenai’s target barely was able to bring up his gladius to block Zenai’s attack. He brought down his swords hard against the bandit. A very loud clang of the steel could be heard and it echoed throughout the hill. The bandit had to use his other hand to grab his gladius to hold off Zenai’s attack. Zenai bear almost the entire of his weight against the bandit in the hopes he could pin him down to the ground. However, Zenai had other ideas and kicked the bandit the abdomen before punching him square in the jaw.

The bandit nearly tripped over himself as he was forced back by Zenai’s punch. He gathered his wits and prepared to face the Guppie properly. Zenai didn’t want to give him any breathing space and closed in with the bandit. He went for a downward cut with his right sword but the bandit blocked it with his gladius. Seeing an opening, Zenai strike against the bandit’s exposed right flank. The bandit saw this and pushed Zenai’s right sword away then bringing his blade to parry Zenai’s left sword. They twisted their blades to get an advantage over the other. Zenai had to compensate as the bandit tried to get at Zenai’s face with his gladius. Zenai released his sword from the hold and ducked under the bandit’s stab. Having exposed himself, bandit was open and vulnerable against Zenai’s double-sword strike at his lower regions. The bandit quickly brought his gladius back to block the attack but he only managed to parry one of the blades. Zenai made a deep gash across the bandit’s leg forcing him to kneel down on the ground.

The Guppie stood at his full height and brought down his swords one after the other against the wounded bandit. He brought his blade above his head to parry the first attack before rolling away to dodge the second. Zenai didn’t let up and tried to overwhelm the bandit with sheer number of attacks. He stabs at the bandit with his right sword but it was parried and knocked away. An upward slash from Zenai’s left but the bandit tumbled away again to evade it. Zenai was wasting too much time on this one so he went for a double-sword downward cut again but this time, he added something else to the mix. As expected, the bandit brought up his blade to block the powerful blow with two of his hands. Zenai then brought his knee against the bandit’s jaw, the steel-armored greaves would have added to the pain of the attack. The bandit fell over and lies on the ground as if he was inviting Zenai to finish him. Zenai accepted the invitation and brought his two talon swords up. He brought it down and aimed for the bandit’s heart. Steel cut through flesh and bone then finally, Zenai could feel the bandit jerked which would signal that the Tagger had pierced through the bandit’s heart. Done with his current target, Zenai immediately got into a defensive position and evaluated the situation.

by **Eridanus** on November 16th, 2011, 12:34 pm

Eridanus followed his comrades as they climbed up a hill. It was tiring work, though he supposed he could not complain as he was not wearing heavy armour like the other two, though he felt much less protected as compared to the two of them. Like Zenai, he was trying his best to control his breath despite the physical toll the trek had enacted on him so as not to give away the surprise they had worked so hard to get. Antar scaled a rock to get some height, possibly to scout and maybe to find a vantage point for his archery, and this motivated Eri to do the same, for he could not really see much from where they were standing.

Glancing around, he found a few awkwardly arranged boulders that could - if he used his creativity - lead up to a low-lying tree that might just give him the vantage point he needed, except that it would not be as convenient as Antar's. Sighing, he secured his crossbow behind, and he began to balance himself on the first boulder, steadying himself before leaping on and catching the top of the second higher boulder. His body slammed into the rock, but he fully resisted any urge to shout "oof!" as he might do in less pressing circumstances, and he took a deep breath, pulling himself up the rock. He did the same for another further boulder, and almost missed it, grabbing the edge at the nick of time, and he pulled himself up again. He was closer to the top of the tree now, and he steeled his mind, facing the tree and leaping, wrapping his body tight against it like koala bear. His feet happened to be lodged against an indentation in the trunk, and this helped give him the support he need to finally pull himself up on a sturdy looking branch that had a width more than double his own body's width.

Finally he was where he wanted to be, and he unslung his crossbow, placing the heavy weapon in front of him as he wiggled forward, careful not to drop for it would be a pretty painful drop for him at this height. Antar looked down to find Zenai, and there was a short flash of confusion as he looked around to find Eri, and when he found the Ethaefal Eri could have sworn the rogue rolled his eyes. Antar gave a series of hand signals that Eri did not fully understand, but more or less grasped the meaning of due to the information that he and Zenai had extracted from their prisoners earlier. Antar then aimed his bow, his intention to fire clear and Eri deduced that he would take down the enemy archers first, since it would be disadvantageous for them to engage in melee combat while their opponents had cover fire. That meant that the other archer would be left, and Eri simply guessed that Antar would aim the archer closest to the rogue, leaving the one closest to Eri for him.

Eri wiggled further forward where the branch began to lessen in width to the point where he could wrap one hand around the branch. Placing the crossbow in front of him such that its belly lay on the branch, he intended for this more stable position to grant him the precision and luck he had earlier while fending off the first wave. He utilized the same technique as before, and he took a shallow breath as he squinted down the rudimentary sights carved into the weapon. He heard a soft twang as Antar let loose an arrow, and he pressed the trigger as well. There was a noticeable thump, but Eri was unsatisfied for that sound was that of the rogue's arrow hitting the other archer squarely in the chest, the surprised bandit stumbling and collapsing from the sudden impact. The Ethaefal's own bolt missed its target barely, and while the remaining archer recovered from the shock, he swore and fumbled with the quiver of bolts strapped to his thigh, struggling to reload the bolt as quickly as he could. Placing the bolt on the firing chamber, he reloaded the spring mechanism and heard the reassuring click as the bolt went in place, and he sighted down its wooden sights again, this time offering a prayer to the God of Accuracy or Archery or whoever the hell is in charge of this (if there was even one in the first place, but Eri did not care at that point of time). It seemed that this possibly imaginary god listened to his prayers, for his next bolt appeared in the archer's neck, the unfortunate man stumbling about and trying to stop the bleeding that will lead to his inevitable death. It was unfortunate, for Eri had been clearly aiming at his chest in order to incapacitate rather than to declare an absolute death sentence, but in battle one could not be too namby-pamby about such things if one wished to live.

He mentally pumped a fist, and he reloaded his crossbow once more, slinging it back again when he realized that he was probably the only one left, Zenai and Antar having already charged down to claim the initiative in a rush attack. He swore, having been abandoned again at the last position, and he dashed forward also, eyes quickly scanning the battlefield to confirm the opponents still combat-worthy. Only three remained standing, and Zenai had already initiated combat with the one holding the gladius. A pity really, for Eri had wanted to abuse the reach of his blade against that opponent. The choice was made for him, for he quickly dodged an incoming slash from a long sword held by a confident man sporting several scars. This either meant that he was a careless man or he had been involved in fights against worthy opponents several times and won. Eri did not like the odds if it were the latter, and he quickly drew both his blades to meet another slash. This opponent was different from the rest, and from their exchange of blows it was evident to both of them that the bandit had the upper hand in skill.

The Ethaefal was beginning to grow worried, for he did not have access to his Flux if he wanted to avoid overgiving, but yet he might not be able to keep up. He dashed closer, and aimed a slash with his main sword towards the bandit, keeping his other sword as a safety blanket, which was the right thing to do when the bandit simply flicked off his weak attack and countered with a powerful blow, with Eri parried with his off-hand sword. His hands rung with the force of the impact, and in the midst of their swordplay he unleashed a sidekick meant to destabilize his opponent. The bandit was already ready, and he simply kicked Eri's leg in a flash of movement, intercepting his attack and momentarily unbalancing the Ethaefal. Eri instinctively brought his swords up in time to block the bandit's following attack which sought to capitalize on that moment of weakness, and Eri began to grow more worried by the moment, for it was clear that he was outclassed in both unarmed combat and in skill of the blade.

He thought of the training session he had with Zenai, and he realized that the winner was not dictated by skill, but rather also to the creativity he had. There was no honour to be had from winning from dirty tricks, but he did not fancy literally losing his head as well. Better to live as a dishonourable man than to die chivalrously. There were many things that he had to do and dying here right now was not one of them. Using the very same trick that Zenai used on him that day, and which Bob proceeded to use on Idue only moments later, he pretended to use one hand as if to support himself getting up, but instead dropping his blade and throwing a handful of sand into the bandit's face as he (without support) landed on his butt painfully. The man shouted in surprise, for he had probably not expected the Ethaefal - who looked regal and elegant enough due to his celestial glamour to give the impression of a being of honour - to use the oldest trick in the book, just as he himself had not expected Zenai to do in that same session many days before.

Eri used that momentary respite to grab the blade he dropped, and he leaped up into position, unleashing a series of thrusts and strikes in order to overpower the disadvantaged bandit. The leader recovered fast, but still had some grit in his eyes as he parried some of Eri's attacks, and dodged others, side-stepping back in order to compensate for the loss of speed as he desperately tried to regain his vision. Eri knew that he could not possibly hope to win in a full frontal fight, and his mind raced to find methods he could utilize to gain an advantage, no matter how little. Suddenly, he raised his eyes in fake surprise and happiness, aiming that look vaguely behind his opponent, and he nodded in an encouraging manner. The bandit took the bait, and he assumed that someone had came to the Ethaefal's rescue from behind, and he quickly rolled to the side, probably thinking that he had just narrowly avoided a back stab. He turned to find that no one was there, and he swore at having been tricked twice in a row. He looked around to find the Ethaefal, but in the meantime Eri had already sheathed his blades and retreating from the bandit, at the same time taking out his crossbow. He sighed with relief at having the foresight earlier to reload his crossbow before keeping it, and he quickly whipped it out, going down into a single-knee position as he used the balance granted by placing his elbow on his knee to support the hand that was supporting the business end of the crossbow.

He quickly sighted down the weapon and he fired, for he could not miss at such a close range, relatively speaking of course. The bandit leader had reflexes from his experience of combat, and his instinctive roll, caused the bolt to fly harmlessly by, though Eri's morale was boosted by the fact that if the bandit leader had not dodged he would have been hit. The leader roared in anger and he charged the Ethaefal. Eri quickly recovered from his position and he ran, but before he stood up he grabbed a few rocks and sand on the floor in a fistful and threw them in the leader's general direction before running away, patting his thigh to find the quiver that would contain the bolts needed to reload his crossbow. His heart was pounding furiously, and there was some sort of morbid excitement in this dance of death that contrastingly frightened yet excited the Ethaefal. The surge of stamina granted by his additional adrenaline allowed him to keep the distance between him and the bandit, and when he heard the familiar click sound, he whipped around again, quickly going down on a knee as he sighted the bandit. The bandit was much nearer this time, and honestly if the bandit did not dodge even a child would be able to hit a target this close.

The bandit's eyes widened, and Eri made a show of going for the trigger with his finger suddenly, and the bandit rolled to the side again. This time, no bolt flew out for Eri was waiting for this precise moment. He quickly repositioned his weapon, and just as the bandit was recovering from his roll he pressed the trigger for real this time, the crossbow releasing its payload with a soft swoosh. A moment later, the bandit found the bolt appearing in his shoulder, and he cursed, trying to pull it out. Eri did not waste time keeping his crossbow, and he simply placed it on the ground beside him as he drew both his blades in a practised motion, dashing forward to take advantage of this situation.

The bolt had driven deep into the muscles of the bandit's sword arm, and its effect was evident as Eri found the bandit's physical reflexes much slower than at first, affording him the chance to actually defeat this opponent as compared to the hopeless situation earlier. He pressed forward aggressively, not giving the bandit a chance to recover or to muster his strength, and he gained ground slowly as a quite a few near hits as the bandit tried to defend himself. After trading a few hits, Eri quickly stepped forward, bringing his steel sword in a powerful over-head swing. As expected, the bandit met that attack, but Eri had already planned for it. He easily released his grip on that sword, and simultaneously used his cold-iron sword held in his left hand to slash upward, momentarily locking all three blades as he punched the man in the face with his right hand.

The unorthodox technique was not blocked for the bandit was truly surprised by the unfolding events, and as he tried to respond to it, Eri released his left hand's grip on the sword slamming his shoulder forward into the man's chest while chopping at his wrist. The combined attack pushed the bandit back and released his grip on his own long sword, moving the pair further forward while the three blades clattered down on the floor behind them. Eri unrelentingly struck the shoulder where the bolt embedded itself, and the bandit grunted in pain as the bolt went even deeper. Eri guessed that the bandit's sword arm would not be as strong due to the immense pain the bolt was causing him, for it was lodged where the muscles connecting the chest and arm would be flexed, and he sidestepped in that direction, always attacking the bandit where his area of defence was the weakest due to his injured shoulder.

The man's superior skills in hand-to-hand was still evident, and Eri found that it was no easy task to gain an advantage. As he tired, the man also began to tire, though it was fortunate for the Ethaefal that the injury from the bolt began to worsen from the rigorous activity as the bandit did not have the chance to remove the bolt due to Eri's aggressive onslaught of attacks. He soon found the man slowing down, and he seized the opportunity grimly when it came, as if it were his only chance at survival. He slammed the bandit's throat when he deflected a poorly aimed chop, probably due to pain racking the man's body whenever he moved his sword arm, and he heard some sort of crack as the man's eyes rolled upwards. He did not stop, and he savagely rained a series of blows aimed at the man's chest, neck and face, deflecting the now feeble attempts to counter-attacks while doing so. He literally pummelled the man to the ground, and before the man collapse he gave a powerful snap kick upwards, possibly breaking the man's back as his body was pushed upwards. As the bandit's body was jerked upwards by the kick, Eri drove an elbow into the man's throat downwards, and violently slammed the bandit leader into the ground, the man twitching involuntarily. He was quite dead, though the nerves that were madly firing throughout the body thought otherwise, the corpse twitching unnaturally like a poorly animated rag doll.

Eri breathed heavily, the blood-lust in him slowly dissipating from the intensity of the encounter. The fatigue began to set in even more heavily, and his arm muscles and body protested at the exertions he forced them to go through. He had almost lost, and he would have if not for the myriad of creative and under-handed tricks he used so that he could gain a little advantage. The tricks he used on top of another gained him the edge he needed, bit by bit, and finally he surpassed his opponent who was clearly superior in skill, but fortunately not as quick-witted as the Ethaefal. He quickly glanced around the battlefield, first noticing that Zenai had also dispatched of his opponent. Their eyes met, and he gave his friend a weary grin that spoke volumes about the near-death he had experienced, and he trudged back towards his previous position to grab his blades. He recovered his crossbow, strapping it on his back, but did not sheathe his blades as he looked around to find Anthony, who have hopefully defeated his own opponent. If the rogue was still fighting or had somehow been defeated, Eri and Zenai would presumably join in the fray to help their friend.

by **Antar** on November 17th, 2011, 12:09 am

His own charge was a wild one to be sure, mixed with the elements of fatigue and weariness that could only be understood by someone who had felt the same over the years. His body ached with aches that ached of their own. But still he pushed on with the last charge, his path taking him towards the closest one, a brigand with two armored gauntlets.

Right away, he knew it was going to be a problem. The first time he swung his gladius in a downward strike a savage riposte from the man's forearm blocked and forced his blade away. It was followed up with a kick into his side that forced the rogue off balance a little, but thankfully the armor blocked most of the blow. The follow up punch across his helmet was enough to make his head hurt as it snapped backwards setting him off balance. Stars seemed appear within his vision. But that didn't stop his reflexes from kicking in.

His left hand came up to encircle the bandit's gauntlet, using the man's weight as a counterbalance to regain his footing with one leg. In response the bandit hop stepped sideways before man struck out with a right hand knee towards Antar's midsection. Within this close range, his gladius was ineffective so he switched tactics as hit right arm came down with punishing force to block and turn the blow aside. He kept his gauntleted left hand locked around the man's arm. The tines of the teethed edges sank deep into the bandits flesh causing him to howl.

Taking advantage of the situation he pulled the bandit closer to headbutt him across the bridge of the nose. shattering it.Bringing his right arm up and over the man's head Antar rapped the back of his opponents shoulders with the pommel to send him crashing to his knees.

A tight grip on his ankle was enough of a warning to tell him the tide of battle swiftly changing as the man yanked him off his feet. Soon enough they were rolling on the ground in an assorted pummel of punches kicks and shoves, and Antar's gladius fell from his grip.

Finally, after seeing the man's raising a fist above him, the rogue had had enough of this little venture. Flexing his left fist shut he triggered the release mechanism on the spring blade as they shot forwards from it's hidden recess. Stabbing upwards repeatedly with both gauntleted fists he used the stilleto as punching dagger to thrust several stab wounds into the man's sternum, causing his opponent to gasp in pain and shock.

But he wasn't done there.

Using his strength he reversed their positions and straddled the enemy's hips. His opponent was wounded now, inevitably dying from the internal damage but his mind wanted to finish things right. His right hand belted His left hand scrambled to grab his sword from where it lay upon the ground. With it in his hands he brought the blade up before reversing his grip upon the pommel . Stabbing downwards the gladius entered the man's chest, piercing his heart in the coup de grace and he made sure to finish it with a slight twist.

Breathing heavily , he paused a moment to shift his grip upon the blade to look around. There was only Zenai, Eridanus and himself left... the bandits were dead. All of them that he knew of at least. There would always be more bandits in the hills, but at least these ones who had proved a thorn in their sides were dead and gone.

Wearily he got to his feet and looked around a moment before stopping to take a swig from his water flask. It was the best tasting water he had ever seemed to drink, but soon as he had his fill he tossed it at Zenai to take a drink and pass it to Eridanus. "Take what you can find guys. Then we have to go back to the merchant there's a lot of stuff to do stil."

The only thing he really needed to do was what came automatically. He reached down towards the guantletted man's corpse and checked him over for anything of value, field stripped him of his armor and weapons before making his way to the archer he saw his arrow sticking out of it. Using his kukri he removed the barb succesfully and stuck it back in his quiver before processing the corpse in the same way. He'd take the longbow, it seemed different enough for him to keep as a spare. Like it had been made out of composites.

When the others were all done with their spoils, Antar turned to make his way down to the hills, sending up a slight bit of sparks with his reimancy to show them it was over. He knew his limits, and that was the best he could accomplish now.

When the three gained their way back into the barricade, the merchant was there waiting to see them all, and his son was looking wild eyed at the three... "You came back like you said you would? Why? No one in Sunberth ever comes back?"

Antar looked at him for a moment before making a request, he rationalized from the boy's stare there was plenty of blood and viscerae on all three of them and not for the first time did his mind mutter about, "May we have one of the peaches if there's anything left boy? We're all famished and will need the strength to pull you, your pappy and any other wounded back home on one of the wagons."

Speechless the boy made to comply and soon enough the rogue was chowing down on a rather delicious piece of fruit. And he saw the boy duplicate handing out two more to Zenai and Eridanus. Finally the merchant cleared his throat. "What do we do now? There's no way we can move onto where we were supposed to meet up with the rest of my guards. If they're even still there, there'd be no way to even continue without a few new horses."

Noth nodded and turned back towards Sunberth, "Unfortunately your right, and you and your boys wounds need a doctor. By Myri's Tigers Golden Balls you probably haven't even considered one of your driver's over there might need a peg leg or two haven't you? So let me explain what your best option is. You go back to town in a wagon with the wounded to the docs. Anyone still able to walk can pull it."

"But my cargo-"

Antar cut the merchant off with a wave of his hand, "I'm getting to that. We'll take the most expensive things with us in the wagon to the wounded, take it back to your warehouse. I assume you have a bit of a coffers chest? for your journey."

The merchant's eyes flashed suspiciously, "Maybe... what of it?"

"Because that's going with of course. You'll be paying our bonuses out of it when we get back. Once the one wagon with the best stuff is parked away in your warehouse we take you and the injured to the doctor's. You'll be paying his expenses. The other wagons we'll load up with the rest of the goods before we leave and push them into the forest. If you want to, I'm sure the uninjured driver can guard it for the night before you send your own guards back to retrieve it in the morning. We'll be taking whatever we can off the bandits back as well, since us three remaining freelance guards did pretty much all the killing. We might as well sell the extras. Be less of a burden on you and we'll be splitting it three ways."

It went without saying that Antar didn't believe there'd be anything left to salvage from the wagons in the morning. There had been one guard that was a traitor, who knew if there were any more near the merchant? But that wasn't his problem. It wasn't Zenai's, or Eridanus' problem. It was just the way the town of Sunberth worked. Once they got one wagon back to sunberth. They could all walk, having the satisfaction of a job well down.

Of course Antar wasn't about to let things go without a little extra money. He turned towards Zenai and Eridanus."Start loading the wounded while the merchant and I haggle out a bit of hazard pay. Before we leave I'm going to go 'deal' with our little prisoner. But for now I'm thinking of starting at 140 gold mizas a piece for us. What do you think Zenai, Eridanus? That seem fair?"

The merchant blurted out,"A hundred and forty gold mizas! I could hire a whole set of guards for that much for a season!"

The rogue smiled, "No couldn't, at least not ones with the quality we just showed that ended up saving you and your son's lives? Now would you? Now I'm a fair businessman, and so are you? So's these other two. We said we'd do the job and come back and we did. Now we're saying we'll get you back to the 'Berth safely and we will. That means, you know you got three people who won't petch you over so long as you stay true to your given word? Isn't that nice? Next time though you better have your damn house in order so we aren't petched from the start. Now, if you have another offer on the hazard pay, let's hear it!?"

The merchant's face crossed as a shrewd look came to his eyes. "10 gold mizas was the original offer, I'll grant that for free. Whatever the hazard pay is will be in addition to that. That sound good?"

"Very well, What's your offer?"
"82 gold mizas. That way it's 92 total each."
He countered with a number of his own, negotiating all the way. "126, for a total of 136 mizas a piece when added with the base 10."
The Merchant countered with one offer, which he countered with another, and eventually a mutual figure was reached around 115 gold mizas, with the base pay of ten for somewhere around a total of 125 gold pieces apiece for them both. This was followed by an agreement that the three guards could take the spoils of weapons and armor and he'd negotiate with Zenai and Eridanus that the spoils sold would be split evenly in three.

Then it was time to get to work, enacting his plan, flipping the wagons, and reloading them, transferring the wounded to the most undamaged wagon. The rest of the goods were wheeled off into the woods and in the end they were pointed back towards Sunberth. In the end he looked towards the others to see if they were ready to pull the wagon with the other nonwounded.

It would take well into the morning of the next day to pull the wounded back to the merchant's warehouse in the warehouse district and a little more time taking the injured to Doctor Patronius for treatment. Finally, after all was said and done, Antar did a quick cleaning of all the armor and the weapons they had taken from the dead bandits before selling them, sans the original weapons Zenai and Eridanus picked up in one giant package to the good clerks at a Knight's Armory.

When they were done, there was just one little problem to be dealt with... the last bandit they had left alive, so he pulled the other two with them into an alley to have a little chat with the man...

oocNow it's time to make you guys do the stuff that no one ever does right: the attentive aftermath XD of the action. Finish your posts with the three meeting in the alley, tired, cranky, and ready to decide the fate of the last bandit XD.

Total tallies of Kills for Grading Mod: :