Mizahar VS Zaiden (Kale & Nyahna Sasin)

[Eridanus]

Day 60, Winter of 511 AV
Mid Morning
The Unforgiving

The rays of Syna warmed the vantha as he sat broodingly in the wagon. Outside the snow on the ground was beautifully illuminated, granting the entire scene an almost poetic texture as the wagon moved at a steady pace, going further and further away from Alvadas. He wondered what he got himself into, but then again he often thought the same thing regarding all his previous jobs. It was the chills of knowing what was coming up ahead, and though he was a seasoned combatant, this time his opponents was no normal beings.

Back in Alvadas he had somehow been roped into a shady mercenary contract at the promise of a pretty high compensation. His employer had been desperate enough to offer such gold due to the inherent danger and discreetness that was required from any job takers. After all, he could not exactly advertize in the Sanity Center.

Eridanus was not sure of the details, but after his fight with the kelvic Almech in the Akeldama Colosseum, he had been introduced to its bond-mate, a darkly mysterious human who worked there as well, Kale. The vantha had not spent much time around the human, but something about him reminded him of Nuits, yet his lack of sluggishness suggested that he was quite human.

His gut feeling told him otherwise, and something about Kale's aura made Eri quite uncomfortable. He did not detect any malevolent feelings directed his way, and so let it pass. For now.

The other mercenary, he did not know. He was probably Kale's associate, and he had not met him much until today where they would be fulfilling their end of the bargain.

The basic idea was that an overzealous summoner had accidentally let loose a bunch of creatures from another world on Mizahar, and he needed them destroyed to remove evidence of his excessive magical enthusiasm. Or he would be silenced by the mysterious enforcers of the city.

The summoner had hired a wagon driven by one of his apprentices to keep the entire matter discreet. No point letting more people than necessary know about this affair, after all. His apprentices were just as guilty as him for being accomplices to his rituals.

The other two were also seated silently in the cramped wagon. The vantha sighed, peeking out of the wagon again, wondering when they would arrive at their destination.

[Nyahna Sasin]

The world was covered in snow. It was beautiful, seeing the sunlight reflecting off the pure white that coated the ground. Sasin hated it. The air was cold in a way he had never experienced until he stepped out of Eyktol, and the fact that he had experienced worse was no comfort at all.

He sighed heavily, shifting slightly to watch Alvadas steadily retreating. He was already having misgivings about this job. While he had been assured the "Diverse", as they had been called, were human, or had been, once, he suspected there was more to this story than that. He hated magic sometimes, he really did. It was very handy, but sometimes…

How one lost control of a band of otherworldly mercenary savages, he really didn't want to know. The fact that there were other worlds at all would likely have shocked him into a stupor had he not spent the last 50 days or so in a city where you could walk out of a building and end up sliding down a hill made out of actual ice. Honestly, at this point, he doubted anything could shock him anymore.

"I don't suppose either of you know exactly where we're headed." If they were headed into another world he was going to kill someone. Preferably their employer.

[Kale]

The light from Syna did little to warm the man's body. Yet the chill from the winter day's brisk wind did not bother him as it might bother most. He could feel the cold but he was not discomforted by its embrace. Not many things about the climates bothered him anymore. He had lost that sensitivity a long time ago. It was that fateful day when his winning streak in the arena had been brought to an abrupt halt. The day he had died. Since that day he had not slept. He never became fatigued. He did not even need to breathe though he found himself still doing it occasionally more out of habit then necessity. That had been the day when that infernal hunger had begun. The only thing outside of Almech that had been constant in his life. He let his eyes drift to the retreating form of Alvadas. It was quite a way away by now. By foot it would take them half a day at the least to return to the city of illusion. The city looked beautiful from this vantage point. Kale peeled his eyes away from the city that he currently called his home and let them sweep the terrain surrounding him. A thick layer of snow glittered beneath Syna's bright rays. The scene was so calm it was almost surreal. It was ironic how the season most associated with death could look so appeal to the eye. He chuckled silently to himself at his musing. Ironic indeed. Kale shifted his weight along the side of the wagon he was leaning against to acquire a better look at his two companions in their coming endeavor. The first was a vantha by the name of Eridanus. When not fighting for their life in the gladiatorial arena, Kale and Almech were warriors of fortune. Unfortunately Almech had decided against joining this little job. Instead he had some how convinced Eridanus to take his place. He had only met the vantha less then a hand full of times. Based on Almech's recounting of their encounter with one another, this well spoken warrior was at least as skilled as Kale himself was in combat if not more so. The ease with which he wore those longswords of his was all the confirmation Kale needed to know it was true. The gladiator shifted his gaze to their other companion. This one Kale had only met when he had arrived to get details for the job they were about to do. This man has already been there discussing this job with his, soon to be, employer. The man who would be paying them did not give him many details about the situation. The man was obviously fearful of too much information getting out to the public. The gist of what Kale gathered on the matter was that their employer was some type of mage and he had made a mistake worthy of attracting the attention of the silencers. Kale and these other two had been contracted to take care of the sorcerer's problem discreetly. He shifted his gaze towards their wagon's driver. The boy could not have been more then fifteen summers old. He had no idea why their employer would send them with such a young guide. If he had to guess it would be, that this boy was expendable. He let the words of the man called Nyahna hang in the air a few moments before addressing them. "Do you know how to hunt a lion?" he asked the man. "The trick is that if you try to hunt a lion you end up being the prey." He paused for a moment and looked over to see if their fellow mercenary was paying attention to his small speach. "What you do is bring the lion to you. You lure it in with smaller animal and when its in the right spot you strike." He clapped his hands together at the end to emphasize his point. A grin spread across the gladiator's lips. "In this case, we're the animal and the hunter", he smiled humorously. His words hung in the air for a few moments before they were replaced by a wet thud. Kale's eyes immediately darted from Nyahna to Eridanus. The sound did not seem to have originated from either of them. Their wagon began to slow causing him to shift his eyes towards their driver. He sat slumped over in his seat with the shaft of a spear embedded in his chest. The spear had propped up the dead boy which was the reason his body had not yet fallen from the wagon. Kale turned back to Nyahna. "The best way to kill a lion", he stated calmly. The undead warrior hopped from the wagon as blood thirsty cheers began to fill the winter air.

[Eridanus]

The third man commented on whether they knew where they were going, and Eridanus shrugged to that reply. Their employer had merely mentioned that his apprentice would bring them there, or at least where he thought their targets should be, and the vantha was fine with that. No need for useless information about topography and navigation filling up space in his brains. All he needed to know was to sit in the wagon, come out, kill everything, return for his prize. It should be a simple job.

Suddenly, there was a slight impact and a wet squelchy sound followed by a harder sound Eri likened to a stone being dropped on a wooden floor. Kale's relaxed demeanor changed slightly and the vantha followed his eyes to their newly deceased driver. He began to mutter curses, but before he could do anything Almech's bondmate jumped out of the wagon to the sound of war cries that seemed to appear from all directions.

The memory of a similar ambush that occurred to him, Antar and Zenai back in Sunberth flashed briefly, and he knew that he had none of the advantages he had that time. They had to get out of the kill-zone. Reaching forward, he found the driver's body to be still grasping the whip in rigor mortis, and he he pried the whip out of the boy's hands, shouting and crackling the whip at the horse. He made sure to reveal as little of himself out of the protection of the wagon to avoid meeting the same fate.

The horse neighed, and when another spear appeared on the ground beside it, combined with Eri's persistence the brute sped forward, going off in a straight line. The wagon bumped up and down, and Eri gripped the sides of the wagon to avoid bumping his head against the wooden walls.

The sounds of the war cries faded slightly and gradually Eri could tell that it was coming only from one direction. He leaned forward again to hold the reins, trying to make the same sounds the driver made earlier when stopping the horse. He was not trained in riding horses, and it was only after a few moments of him persevering to do so did the horse finally decide to slow down to a gradual trot before stopping.

Glancing at his remaining companion meaningfully, he popped his head out cautiously from the wagon, making sure that they was no one waiting for them to come out and he hopped out of the carriage. Facing the direction where they came from he saw several faint figures whose back was facing him but who seemed to be quite busy trying to aim their spears at someone.

Kale!

In his hurry to escape he had forgotten that he had left the man behind with a bunch of otherworldly bloodthirsty barbarians. From their actions it seemed that he had somehow survived their onslaught, for he were dead they should be on the prowl for him and Nyahna rather than focusing on the center.

Gesturing to his remaining ally, Eri sought the nearest tree and hid himself behind, using it as a starting point to creep up to the unsuspecting warriors. He would use their distraction on Kale - or whatever was left of Kale's body - to gain the upper-hand.

[Nyahna Sasin]

He was beginning to think the others were ignoring him when Kale answered with another question. Recognizing a rhetorical question, Sasin said nothing, simply listening to the man explain how one hunted a predator. When Kale finished his explanation, Sasin smiled grimly. The man had no idea how right he was. The animal and the hunter indeed. He liked this one, very much.

A "thuck" filled the air, and he turned to see a crude spear buried in the dying boy. What perfect timing. Glancing back at his companions, he flashed a grin at Kale. "I feel like such a deadly slab of meat."

Their employer had hired Kale and Eri for their ability to take down enemy combatants in a fair fight. Sasin, however, had never been, and would likely never be, much of a warrior. He was here because he was fast, and observant. His job was threefold:
Firstly, to watch the two mercs, both during the job and after, and make sure neither of them breathed a word about their employer to anyone not involved,
Secondly, to ensure that the job was done properly, and
Thirdly, to report back in the event that the two fell in battle.

Of course, Sasin would have to join the fighting with them. As far as they were concerned, he was just another merc. So when Kale hopped off the wagon and roars filled the air, he stood, pulled out his short-bow, and nearly fell flat on his face as the wagon jerked and started speeding up. Looking up, he saw the Vantha up front urging the horse onwards. The roars and shouts were fading slightly, and he growled softly. Kale was back with the barbarians, Eri was now trying to do something with the horse, and dammit this was ridiculous.

When the wagon stopped, he picked himself up off the floor, and gave Eri a look that said "Dammit Vantha we just left our other ally over there". Unfortunately, the man seemed to have come to the same conclusion, and missed his look. Pity. Vaulting out of the carriage, he glanced back at the fighters crowding around what he assumed to be Kale, or his mangled corpse, and began to strip. Shivering slightly with the cold, he tossed his shirt and pants back in the wagon, hanging his belt on the edge, and shifted.

It started with his eyes this time. Greyish blue eyes slitted and turned yellow. His legs began to fuse together and lengthen, black and yellow scales appeared. In half a chime, the smaller, slender man was replaced with a vicious looking Viper. Putting his belt back on, he grinned at Eri.

Following the Vantha's lead, Sasin slithered from tree to tree, keeping out of sight. As they drew closer, he nocked an arrow to the string, and when Eri seemed ready, he drew, aimed, and released.

Sasin was hardly a master with the bow. He knew the basics, and he knew his own strength, but when it came to accuracy… well, to put it kindly, it was the person next to the one he was aiming at that had cause to worry. He could count on one hand the number of times he had even come close to his target. But this group was a large enough target that it didn't matter. Whether or not he aimed true, he was going to hit something.

Now, hopefully, that something was not going to be one of his allies.

[Kale]

The sound of the horse protesting loudly and the wagon lurching forward caused Kale's head to jerk around. Unfortunately by the time he realized what was happening the wagon had already moved beyond his reach. Judging from the speed it was picking up he would not be able to catch it either. The mercenary cursed his two partners silently. They were so concerned for their own skin that they had not even thought to warn him about their intent to flee. If he managed to make it through this one or both of them would find their way into his stomach. Of that he was certain. He turned his attention back to the problem at hand. The group of barbarians they had been sent to take care of were leaving cover and moving for him. Blood thirsty shouts were thick in the air by now. He ignored those cries for blood. He closed his eyes for a moment and started concentrating. He drove from his mind the fact that there were a dozen brutes lusting for his blood bearing down on him. He could hear their footsteps getting closer. He did not move. Nor did he open his eyes. He continued to feel into himself. Finally he felt it. That thin strand of energy running through his body. As he focused all of his will on it, another such tendril of energy became "visible" to him. Then another and another, soon he could feel the crisscrossing spider web of energy all through his body. He pressed his mind to one of these strands. He could feel it almost vibrate under his touch. He knew such feelings were simply in his imagination but it made the next part of this ritual easier. He wrapped his mind around one of the threads and began to pull the energy from it. Slowly it drained from the tendril. He repeated this process over and over. He drained the energy from parts of his body that would not miss it. The parts of his body he would not need during the fight. He drew it from parts of his body that, due to its undead nature, it did not need. He pooled the energy in his chest. When the right began he would distribute that energy into parts of his body that would be useful at the time. Kale opened his eyes. Luckily for him he had opened them in time to see the rusty blade sailing through the air. He had enough time to duck under this blade before it could decapitate him. Before he could strike at the one that had missed him he had to twist aside as a spear nearly impaled him. He let the momentum of his twist carry him to the ground. He rolled once before surging back to his feet. By now they had surrounded him. He tried his best to avoid their blows. It only took moments for one weapon to get through his guard. The tip of the spear might not have had the finest craftsmanship, nor have been sharpened very well but the force behind it still managed to cause it to sink deeply into Kale's stomach. The barbaric men backed off a little. They likely expected his body to fall to the ground from his wound and had given it room to do so. Pain blossomed in Kale's stomach but he did not feel the gentle embrace of death open its arms for him. He had had wounds like this before and survived. Something as trivial as a blade in the gut was a hindrance and little more. He looked at the man that had driven the spear into his flesh. A horrified look appeared on his face when Kale continued to stand on both of his feet. He stepped towards the man. As he moved forward he finally began to channel that core of flux energy he had been keeping bottled up in his chest. The energy surged down his neural pathways. He focused the energy into the muscles in his triceps and forearms. His left arm darted forward and grasped ahold of the slowly backing away man. Kale right hand broke the spear's shaft off nearly a foot from the part impaling him. The frightened man tried to pry himself from the monster's grasp but his magically fueled strength maintained a firm grip on the shoulder he held onto. For the moment the crowd surrounding Kale was immobilized by a mixture of awe, fear and curiosity. He pulled the now shortened spear out of him. A small grin spread across Kale's lips just before he plunged the spear into the man's chest. The force behind the trust caused the man's breastbone to shatter. The man's face took on a pained expression as Kale's grin widened. He pulled the energy from his left arm and sent it surging in to join the flux energy in his right. He gave another push. Not only did this cause the spear to sink further into the dying man, it sent the spear and a good portion of Kale's arm through his body and out the other side. He felt the man's body slump against the arm buried inside it. He pulled the blood and gore caked arm from the dead thing's body, letting it fall to the ground limply.

[Eridanus]

Eridanus watch his comrade morph before his eyes, and he was unsure if he was just a kelvic or used morphing magic. Either way, the morphing stopped halfway to give Sasin a snake's tail but a human torso and arms, and he watch the man slither forward to a tree with his bow already unslung. He glanced around to find a good vantage point, and he spotted a tree closer to the group of barbarians that was maybe ten meters or so away from where Sasin was headed.

Using a fallen log on the side as a stepping stone, he leaped off it as high as he could on the tree, his arms wrapping as hard as he could around the trunk. Grunting as he climbed up awkwardly, alternating between hugging the tree with his arms and with his legs as he pushed himself up, he reached the lower array of thick branches that could bear his weight. At that height, he took a look at the clearing, and realized that he was not quite high enough.

He shifted himself to the thick branches, using that as another stepping stone to leap upwards again, his body slamming against the trunk as he grabbed on for dear life. He squirmed upwards again, and after several uncomfortable squirms he reached another layer of thick branches. He could oversee the killing-zone, quite clearly from this vantage point, and he shifted himself over to the branches, lying flat on his stomach as he carefully wormed his way outwards until he had the entire clearing in his line of sight.

Both arms and both legs were wrapped tightly around the branch so that he would remain upright. Using his right hand hand to steadily unbuckle the crossbow behind his back, the vantha placed the weapon in front of him. He realized that the branches could still support his weight, and he wormed ahead slightly more where the branches thinned out. He continued outwards until he felt the branches dip a little, and he used that as a sign and retreated a little where the branches would not dip.

This was the perfect position.

His right hand held the grip of the crossbow, with his elbows digging into the sides of the branches to maintain his balance on the branches. He had already loaded his crossbow prior to starting in the caravan, and he toggled off the safety of the weapon, placing his finger in the trigger.

Looking down the crude apertures notched into the bow, he aimed at the nearest target to him, though he was high enough such that his target would not notice him unless he looked above. They looked humanoid enough, but they had odd mutations and deformed appendages that would make them less effective in combat. Unless they had other tricks up their sleeves, being otherworldly creatures.

An arrow whizzed by, courtesy of Sasin, and it buried itself into the thigh of the target Eri was aiming at, causing the man to howl in pain and to stumble to the ground. That actually increased the man's area to Eri since he had been looking from above. That made his job much easier, and he took the chance to quickly take a short breath, holding it as he briefly aimed through his crossbow.

Click.

A bolt appeared in the man's back, the impact of the projectile slamming him straight onto the ground. He did not move, though whether he was dead or unconscious did not bother the vantha. He was already reloaded his crossbow, though doing so carefully and steadily to keep himself up in the tree.

He was in a perfect position due to the mass of leaves and branches that camouflaged his position, and chances are he would only get noticed if they knew exactly where to look and what to look for, since his crossbow was the same color as the branches he was on, and its size even made it look like an oddly jutting out branch.

The vantha was excited, but he knew that excitement would only mess up his aim. Calmness was the key.

Notching the next bolt into his crossbow, he took a brief aim at the next target further away who was focusing more on the spectacle ahead. If Eri had bothered to look closely at Kale he would have been surprised at the savagery happening there, but he did not, for he had his own things to do.

The barbarians nearer to the one they killed were further away from the main action, and they began to look around warily, probably trying to locate the archer. He hoped Sasin would be able to handle himself.

Holding his breath shortly to keep his body still, he fired off another bolt, but the bolt whizzed off target and hit a tree even further down. His target was embroiled in a battle hunger and did not seem to notice. Good.

Reloading his crossbow again, he made sure not to move the position of his crossbow. Once notched, he adjusted for the difference, shifting his crossbow slightly more to the left.

Click.

At that exact moment, the barbarian decided that it was his turn to have some fun and he dashed forward to get a swipe at Kale. Eridanus cursed, then suddenly cheered inwardly, for his bolt had actually missed the original target. However, due to the barbarian moving forward he actually moved into where his bolt actually landed, and with a surprised 'oof!' the bolt slammed into his back, pushing him forward where he stumbled and collapsed hard on the ground.

Eridanus reloaded his crossbow again. The practice of repeated motions making him better at it.

UpdateEri: 2 incapacitated
Total: 1 dead, 2 incapacitated

[Nyahna Sasin]

Taking higher ground. Branch. Smart man. If these… things were truly uncivilized, they likely had never seen crossbow bolts before, or at least wouldn't be able to distinguish them from arrows. Which mean when Sasin was spotted, which, given his less than stelar cover, he would be, and very soon, Eri would have a few more precious moments in which they would be unguarded.

Like the Vantha, Sasin found that the large concentration of foes made for some amusing lucky shots. One arrow missed it's intended target, sinking into the ground. One of the barbarians, in his rush to attack, actually tripped over it, stabbing himself in the arm with his sword. Unfortunately, Sasin was only able to get off another two or three shots before he was discovered. Dropping his bow, he pulled out his dagger, and lunged forward, flaring his hood and slashing at the approaching barbarian.

He jerked back in surprise and astonishment, and Sasin took the opportunity to slash viciously, his dagger biting into the man's bicep. The barbarian growled, and tried to smash his club into Sasin's head. Ducking, the snake brought his dagger down on the barbarian's neck as his momentum dragged him forward, and grinned as he heard a crack of bone.

Another came, hot on his friend's heels. Looking around, Sasin crouched, grabbed a handful of dirt, and threw it in the man's face. The man yowled in pain and fury, swinging his sword randomly. He managed to clip Sasin's hip before the dhani moved out of range. The man was swinging wildly enough that Sasin couldn't get through. Picking up his bow again, he sent two arrows at the man, both aimed at his chest. It said something about Sasin's aim that even at such a short distance, both missed his target. The first hit the man's shoulder. The second sank into his crotch. Sasin winced as the man folded over soundlessly. He put the bow back on his belt, and pulled his dagger out to sever the man's throat.

Retreating to relative safety, Sasin looked around at the fighting, focusing on his heat vision. Most of the fighters were clumped together, but he didn't care about that. He was looking for something else, around the fringes of the group. His job was to make sure this was done properly, and that meant making sure there were no- ah, there was one. He grinned toothily, and began to slither off to the side, still keeping away from the fighting.

Keeping low to the ground, Sasin slowly snuck up behind the warrior crawling away. He had a mangled leg, shattered by a crossbow bolt, it appeared. As he grew closer, Sasin inferred that the man had apparently detected him, as evidenced by the spear thrust in his direction. Dodging the spear easily, he swept it aside with his tail, pulled up the man's head, and slit his throat.

Looking around again, he spotted another straggler, and stealthily made his way behind him. After all, every Diverse who escaped now was one they'd have to track down later.


Kill-countSasin: 3 killed
Total: 4 killed, 1 incapacitated (assuming one of the dead was incapacitated)

[Kale]

Kale did not so much see the first arrow as hear its appearance. If he had not been so focused on the fight at hand and noticing every detail he would have missed it. There was a high whistling sound and then a wet thud as it penetrated the leg of one of the uncivilized combatants. The wooden shaft buried inside his leg caused the barbarian to cry out and bend over to cradle his new wound. Luck was not with the wounded man this day it seemed. No sooner had he bent over then another, although different from the first, wooden bolt slammed into his back carrying his body to the ground. When the first arrow had appeared Kale had feared that it might have been fired at him and missed. That would have been bad for him. He might have been able to keep himself alive in the situation he was in but he held no illusions that he would be in trouble if they had range on him as well as numbers. Such contemplations were cut short when one of the barbarians finally broke through his irrational fear and charged the man who had just shoved his arm through his comrade. Like his friend before him, this one gripped a spear. Kale sighed to himself mentally. It was fear that fueled the man's actions and not anger. Fear caused you to act without reason. Acting without reason caused you to make mistakes. When the man had finally made it into range, he thrust the spear at Kale. The attack might have skewered a lesser opponent. However, Kale was a veteran of hundreds of battles. Sure few of them had been as one sided as this one was at the moment but he had fought against fighters with spears before. He knew how to deal with them. As the spear's tip slid through the air towards him, Kale pulled the energy in his arm and sent it racing for his right leg. He waited until a moment before the spear would have pierced his flesh to move. He twisted his body to the side as its tip entered the area he had been in but a breath before. Lucky for Kale, the most dangerous part of a spear is its tip. He twisted his hips and pivoted his body on the balls of his left foot as he moved out of the way of spear. He felt the strength from the flux energy moving up the length of his leg while his body did its single rotation. As his body came back around he brought his leg up. The flux energy now filling his leg caused the kick's impact to be devastating. The gladiator clearly heard the shattering of bone when the heel of his foot crashed into the side of the man's face. The man fell limply to the ground. He had little time to contemplate whether the man was dead or not before he was charged again. It seemed that that one man's singular charge had broken swept away the rest of his opponent's hesitation. This time two of his opponents charged him at once. Both of these new opponents brandished rusty looking swords as they closed in. Kale flicked his arm towards the closer of his two opponents. The violent motion caused some of the blood coating his arm to fly into the man's face. He stopped dead in his tracks as he furiously rubbed at his face to wipe the crimson liquid from his eyes. He was still wide open when the second barbarian made his move. The man's sword came in at Kale from an angle. He managed to get his already raised arm up in time for the blade to glance off the steel vambrace adorning his wrist. With the energy still coursing through the muscles of his right leg, he dropped to the ground and pivoted again. This time the heel of his foot crashed into the man's ankle with the same force that shattered part of his comrade's face. Another crack filled the air as he too fell to the ground. His cries of pain alone were testament of how very much alive he still was. Kale backed away from the rest of the slowly advancing group through the hole in the formation he and the arrows had made. Kill-CountKale: 1 dead, 1 incapacitated, 1 blinded Total: 5 dead, 2 incapacitated, 1 blinded

[Eridanus]

Arrows from Sasin's bow whizzed by as some missed and some hit. But they were not Eri's concern as he calmly looked down the sights of his crossbow, up safe and comfortable in his camouflaged vantage point. He had no illusions as to how little experience he had with the weapon, and he also had no illusions that his previous hits were all lucky shots. Luck could only bring him so far.

He counted his blessings and quit ahead, though not from shooting. His position was too perfect for him to forsake it. Instead he looked for the biggest clump of people, finding a huge crowd before Kale who somehow still appeared to be alive and doing pretty well. They were a large writhing mass of deformities and crude weapons, all crying for Kale's blood and trying to get a piece of the mercenary.

It would be Eri's best bet. Breathing in briefly, he angled his crossbow towards the middle of the clump, ensuring that he would at least hopefully hit something regardless of the direction of which he would most likely miss. In that short moment between breaths when his body was most still, he gently clicked the trigger and a bolt whizzed out of his weapon.

It missed his original point quite expectedly, and it veered to the right. Fortunately, the crowd of barbarians were large enough that the bolt slammed into the back of one of them who was carrying a huge two-handed axe, pushing the man forward and causing him to bury his axe into the back of his ally who was just close in front.

He+1 dead. poor sod xD crashed to the ground in front of him, the axe still buried in his back as blood and some gore began leaking from the huge wound. The man who got hit by the projectile also collapsed face-down into the ground, though his body continued to twitch. He+1 Incapacitated was unconscious, but alive. But it did not matter as long as he was incapacitated.

The vantha calmly reached for the side of his legs which continued to grip the branches he was on, though his thighs were beginning to feel tired from the constant clamping. Pulling out yet another bolt, he placed the bolt in an unhurried manner into the catch of the weapon, notching it into place of the spring mechanism. Haste was often bad for tasks that required dexterity anyway.

He glanced down the sights again, though shifting the aim of his crossbow slightly higher to compensate for the center of the crowd had shifted upwards due to the crowd advancing upon Kale who seemed to be retreating. Eri would probably have to come down sooner or later to help distract some of the barbarians away from the mercenary if he was still alive.

He took another short breath, waiting for that magical moment in between breaths when his body was most still and, keeping his moments as small as he could to prevent jerking the crossbow as it fired, clicked the trigger. The crossbow jerked slightly, as was expected due to his unfamiliarity with the weapon, and so the bolt was again off-course.

This time it aimed higher than expected, and sailed over the heads of the crowd.

However, it buried itself into the back of a manBlinded dude who happened to be standing still for he seemed to have something stuck in his eyes. Regardless, the force of the ranged impact caused him to fly forward, his hands - and blade - outstretched dangerously towards Kale.

Eridanus did not have time to see what happened next, for he was distracted by the emergence of nearby noise of footsteps and shouting. He twisted his body slightly to look down, and he found Sasin fighting off a few of their enemies who were at the fringe of the clearing (the main crowd was after Kale).

He sighed.

He began to push himself back towards the center of the tree, and he carefully let himself down, making sure to climb down in the same way as he did while going up. Nothing was more embarrassing then getting himself injured when they were plenty of enemies around eager to do so.

Crossbow in hand, he dropped down from the lowest cluster of branches, the snow softening the impact of his landing, and the vantha crouched as he landed so that he would not strain his kneecaps from the impact.

He realized that it had been silent suddenly, and he looked around, finding the Diverse who were fighting with Sasin just now lying on the floor looking quite dead, and the assassin was nowhere to be found.

He kept his senses alert, moving quickly towards their wagon to deposit his crossbow in it. No point slowing down his agility with clutter.

That was when he found Sasin stalking a straggler further away from the clearing, and he grinned, feeling sorry for the unsuspecting bugger.

Sasin had resolved the threat to himself, and did not need Eri's help. Instead, he would support Kale and draw some attention away from mercenary. He slowly sneaked towards the clearing, for he did not want to draw the straggler's attention and put Sasin into unnecessary danger.

Making as little noise as he could, he soon approached the clearing, and when he believed himself to be generally out of ear-shot from the assassin and his prey, he stepped quite confidently out into the clearing, drawing both swords as noisily as he could, causing a clear metal ring to shriek into the cold winter air.

The few barbarians still at the fringe refocused their attention on Eri, and he smiled grimly to them.

Settling into a dual wield stance that was a modified variation of the Half Iron Door and the Tail, he looked at the nearest one with taunting eyes. It was an invitational stance, and the brute took him up on his offer, running towards him with his sword, swinging it forcefully as if force alone could kill.

The vantha slammed his left sword - which was in the single-handed Half Iron Door - upwards, the defensive nature of the guard placing him in that ideal position, and swerved to the left as it passed over his mid-torso, forcing the brute's sword in that same direction.

His right sword - which was cold-iron and generally his main offensive arm - was in the Tail and that gave him enough space to generate a slightly slanted mid-swing. The blade swished through the air gracefully, and as it reached the end of its arc huge splatters of red decorated the snow below, and the man+1 dead collapsed.

Eri quickly compass paced to the left to square his body relatively to his new position - for it would be awkward and invariably fatal to cross his arms. He took advantage of the new positions of his swords to transition into a Falcon with his left sword and a Boar's Tooth with his right, in time to meet his next attacker.

He thrust upwards and forward with his right sword, spearing the man in the chest before he could finish his over-head swing, and the vantha followed up with a downward cut with his left blade from the Falcon, gathering backward immediately the cut to pull his right sword out of the man+1 dead.

More red decorated the snow below.

He proceeded in a sloping back and left footwork, compass-pacing to face the right as he settled into the Half Iron Door and Tail variation. This opponent was smarter, and instead of rushing straight on he edged forward, thrusting forward to test the vantha.

Eridanus passed forward, the left blade swinging upwards from the Half Iron Door towards the barbarian. A clang rang into the air as the barbarian sought to parry that blow, and Eridanus sloped to the right, extending his left arm as he did so to maintain the position of his left sword.

He was cheating, for he had two swords and the man only one. But there was no equality in real life combat, and there was a flash+1 dead of metal as his right sword exploited the barbarian's lack of defence due to the previous manoeuvre.

The vantha gathered backwards again away from the clearing and therefore away from the barbarians in case anyone was trying to flank him. There was none, for there were no one left in the fringe of the clearing. There might be others in the woods, but they could not be seen and the vantha assumed that Sasin might probably be busy taking care of them, for he did not appear inside the clearing to aid him.

The rest were in the crowd advancing on the retreating figure of Kale who seemed to still be alive after all this while.

Eridanus silently approached the crowd, timing his surprise attack at the same time as Kale's to induce maximum chaos and disorder into their enemies.

UpdateEri: 4 dead, 1 incapacitated. Also, blinded dude has an arrow stuck in him and is flying towards Kale with weapons outstretched due to impact of bolt.
Total: 9 dead, 3 incapacitated. Blinded dude's fate unknown - depends on Kale's reply.