Quest On Guard!

[Yuri Lehrer]

The confusion which made itself apparent on the Iyvess woman’s face was profound, Yuri wondered what he had done to cause this until she spoke, in slightly broken common “Who this Everyone? I am no Everyone. Yssgranashikar.” It made somewhat more sense to him then, if they didn’t speak common fluently, then the meanings of some words wouldn’t be clear to the Iyvess, Yuri could understand, some things were difficult, and learning a language was definitely one of them. Once his understanding passed through his mind, Yuri gave thought to what the Iyvess had called herself Yssgranashikar... Yuri tried to sound it out in his mind Yiss-gra-na-she-kar... not the easiest word I have ever tried to pronounce, now let’s hope that it comes out how it sounds in my mind... When this attempt at pronouncing the ebony skinned woman’s name had made itself known within his mind, Yuri looked at Yssgranashikar as she spoke to Saraphina, asking who he was.

Yuri kept silent while Saraphina spoke, answering Yssgranashikar’s question “This is Yuri. He is…..a warrior, a swordsmen. He fights to protect others and is a friend of mine. We…..we hunt together sometimes. He is a good man to have in fight, someone who has made himself strong, like your people.” When she finished speaking, Yuri bowed to Yssgranashikar and spoke in a friendly tone “I’m sorry for confusing you... Yiss-gra-na-she-kar.” Yuri hoped his pronunciation had been close to passable, but he wasn’t too sure, but if his thoughts were right, then he would be told within the next short while, otherwise he would shorten the name so it was easier to say, he continued speaking after a moment of thought, trying to explain the meaning of Everyone “Everyone... refers to all of the people... that are being spoken to, at once... like addressing all of the people of a den?” Yuri was doing quite a lot of hoping in that he had made a reasonable comparison.

When he had finished speaking, Yuri’s nose picked up a faint, but familiar, aroma which grew stronger with each passing moment, turning his head to try and locate the source, he heard what Saraphina was talking to Yssgranashikar about, but it sounded as though he was hearing it from a distance. The smell, which Yuri identified as Kelp Beer, had grown strong enough to mean that whoever had been drinking the brew that he didn’t like at all, was nearby, but was still hidden from his view, turning his body now, he looked around until his eyes came to rest on what appeared to be a sailor, albeit a sailor who had had too much to drink recently, standing near Ricky. Yuri wondered why the man was at the Iyvess encampment Probably didn’t have anything better to do... oh well Shaking his head a little to clear his head, Yuri gave Ricky a look of support, that said if he needed a hand, all he had to do was ask, then turned his ear back to the conversation the Iyvess and the Kelvic were having, eager to learn anything new.

[Perplexity]

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Shikar’s sharp eyes seemed to be studying Saraphina more intently the more she spoke. A bright, very amused grin touched her face when Yuri practically botched her name. She shook her head bringing up her hands pointing to each person in turn.

“Sara.” She pointed to Saraphina giving the woman a firm nod. Shikar then pointed to Yuri with a slight tilt of her head.

“Yuri.” Her pronunciation of Yuri’s name was with a long “u” making it sound more akin to “Yooouray”. Such were the difficulties of overcoming language barriers. Suffice it to say Shikar was most decidedly one of the more fluent speakers of Common among her people. The rest of the den seemed only to communicate to land-dwellers through gestures or the whimsical words of Fratava. She pointed to herself pressing a finger to her chest.

“Shikar.” There was a slight hiss to the pronunciation of her “s” as would be expected of a Dhani. The shortening of her given name was certainly less of a mouthful and would no doubt prove easier for both Yuri and Saraphina to pronounce. At Yuri’s apology the dark skinned woman could only smile and though some of his words were lost on her as obvious by the concentrated look in her eyes, Shikar grasped the gist of what he was saying.

“Yuri, no worry.” The Iyvess turned her attention back to Saraphina and her question. For several ticks Shikar was silent. Whether that was from processing the question itself or from forming her answers it was difficult to tell. When it seemed she collected her thoughts the woman turned to face her den a note of great pride entering her demeanor.

“Hunt long in waters. Time for hunts over. Time for Seeking has come.” It was…vague. That was most certainly obvious. The way she spoke however implied she expected the others to have some measure of understanding of what she was talking about. As if suddenly realizing this the warrior furrowed her brow dipping her head slightly searching for the right words.

“Den.” She gestured to the tribe of Iyvess gathered along the beach. Waving her hand she splayed her fingers in a mildly grasping gesture. “Family. Family lost. Seek family.”

At that the Iyvess woman turned to regard Yuri for a moment.

“Seek to protect. Like warrior.” Shikar seemed to be giving Yuri an appraising look as if judging the weight of his character beneath her stern gaze. The study of him passed whereupon she jerked her head in the direction of the camp.

“Come.” The word was spoken simply and to both of them. Not waiting to see if they were following Shikar made her way toward the encampment. From the looks of it she appeared to be headed toward the beginnings of a bonfire. Several of the Iyvess hunters had begun stoking the fire with fish ready to be cooked nearby. With the barest glance over her shoulder Shikar opened her mouth to speak to both Yuri and Saraphina.

“Is time for—“ The warrior’s eyes grew wide and before anyone really knew what was happening there was suddenly an arrow protruding from her shoulder. The impact of the arrow smashing into her bone made Shikar stumble back in surprise. The air rushed out of her lungs from pure shock. One of the other Iyvess nearby went wide-eyed. A tall, broad shouldered male who adopted a look of horror before it was replaced with anger. He let out a fierce bellow catching the attention of the other Dhani many of whom immediately saw the female drop to a knee.

Several pairs of eyes turned to Yuri and Saraphina before weapons were drawn. Spears were grabbed, daggers were grasped, the Iyvess letting out a collective howl of indignation. Meanwhile Shikar reached up and tore the arrow from her shoulder. She grit her teeth placing a hand over the wound as several of her denmates rushed forward.

Ricky

“Trouble, eh?” The putrid smelling man let out a wheezing laugh that sounded more like a hacking cough than anything else. When the laughter or coughing fit, it wasn’t exactly clear which, had passed he rubbed at his greasy face. Bloodshot eyes stared down at the beach. They narrowed as they observed the conversation transpiring between Saraphina and Yuri. He did not take his eyes off of the two as he responded to the Wave Guard’s question.

“Oh, just one problem, Sarge. Just one.” The drunkard suddenly threw back his cloak exposing a long dagger. He brought it out with sluggish swiftness, anger boiling in his eyes.

“You!” Thrusting the dagger forward the man aimed for the rear of Ricky’s lower back intent on piercing the flesh digging the blade straight into his left kidney. As soon as the man exclaimed a small crowd of decidedly not friendly looking men poured out of an alleyway. At the head of those men was an archer who drew an arrow, knocked it and let loose into the Iyvess encampment. Whoever these people were they had come together for one reason and one reason only, they had come to kill.

Citizens screamed and high tailed it away from the beach. The assembled Wave Guards, what few that remained to simply be a show of presence, drew their swords and immediately set in on trying to quell what would turn into an all-out brawl. Many slipped by them and within seconds angry, armed, violent men descended upon the Dhani encampment.

NoteLet the mayhem ensue! Mwahaha!

[Saraphina Skyglow]

Saraphina Skyglow T he conversations with Shikar was rather confusing and seemed to be going in circles. Though Saraphina was glad that she'd finally said her name in a way that was easy enough to pronounce. Her mention of hunting and seeking was very puzzling. The Kelvic's eyebrows pinched together in confusion as the Iyvess leader spoke. The scarred women seemed to be talking about finding family and protecting them. Saraphina understood that very well. Family was and should be everything. When Shikar waved at the two to follow her and walked off, Saraphina smirked a bit before following. She was starting to get to know the Iyvess better, no way was she going to let a situation like this slip by. The other members of the Dhani tribe didn't pay much attention to the trio as they walked through the camp. Saraphina was mostly focusing on Shikar, but her sense were still naturally attuned to her environment. But she wished a moment later that she'd paid closer attention to the world around her and not let her curiosity get the better of her. If she hadn't, she might have been better prepared for what happened next. S araphina's first thought when Shikar fell back with a gasp of pain was to rush to her and try to help. It became very clear, very soon that option was not a choice. The ginger certainly couldn't blame the Iyvess's response. If someone had attacked her friend, family and leader, she would most defiantly had the same reaction. But still, she couldn't help the cry of shock from leaving her throat as the dark skinned women dropped to one knee. Reflex turned to instinctive survival as the Iyvess hunters suddenly came alive like a wild horde of hungry wolves. Weapons were grabbed, cries of anger were heard and Saraphina saw Shikar wrench the arrow from her body. The Kelvic wanted nothing more than to move forward and help the Iyvess women, but as her people reacted, Saraphina knew that any movement towards the injured women would get her killed. Her head whipped around and saw the mass of people descending on the camp, one of whom had a bow. Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a vicious snarl and she yelled to the incoming attackers, "FOOLS!!! You choose to attack a group that has done nothing to you! Must you humans always be afraid of the unknown and never willing to compromise!!" A s the armed Iyvess started to move towards Saraphina, she backpedaled from them quickly. Knowing that she had seconds to spare, the Kelvic grabbed the bottom of her top and whipped it over her head. Tossing the shirt to the ground and still rapidly retreating, she called out to the weapon bearing Iyvess, "No harm from me!! I will fight with you Iyvess!!" Saraphina had no time to kick off her boots or shed her pants to shift to her animal form. She knew that the Iyvess were shifters like herself and thought perhaps if she could change to her animal form, they might be shocked enough to not attack her. Beyond that, the Kelvic was flat out unwilling to let a bunch of hostile men kill those who had done nothing to deserve their wrath. The Iyvess were who she would stand beside. Zelitva was a pause on her journey, not her home, she would not let a new race so similar to herself be killed by these close minded bastards. But she needed a bit more distance and time to fully shift forms. Hopefully her words would penetrate through the angry haze and give her enough time to shed the rest of her clothes. If not, she was prepared to fight bare handed, whether it be from the Iyvess or from the incoming Zeltiva's. Saraphina hoped it was the latter, she did not want to make enemies of the water dwellers.

[Ricky Maze]

Ricky could only wonder just how drunk the man next to him had to be in order to be at the point where laughter and wheezes were both the same, many a times did the father himself recognize some sailors and older men to have reached that point when he himself drank at the Kelp Bar, but of course it was easy to tell that their wheezes were created from such hard rebellious laughter in good time. This man though? There was really no telling whether or not he had been laughing to much, or if his health wasn't in greater spirits than they should be. Either way Ricky couldn't shake the uncomfortable feeling he had away, the feeling that showed this odd fellow had started to get underneath his skin. Of course the Wave Guard did his best to avoid showing it, as he mainly kept his eyes elsewhere except the man for a short while.

Whether he wanted to engage in real conversation or small talk, Ricky couldn't really read into that for sure. His attention went to Yuri and the girl he was with, as they both headed further into the encampment, the Ivysess woman bore a pleased grin on her face by the looks of it. It was good to watch and see that such peaceful terms remained true between them, something that gave Ricky hope that the end of the day would turn out normal after all. "Oh, just one problem, Sarge. Just one." Ricky's own grin faded as he could somehow hear a change in the tone of voice, a clear sign that the man had been up to something the moment that he took to approach Ricky. "You!" Even with the timing Ricky had his only reaction to occur was a look over his left shoulder, initial surprise spurred throughout his body as he witnessed the flash of steel that aimed for his flesh. He should've known better, he should've avoided dropping his guard! He-

"Graaaah!" The father's eyes went bloodshot as he twisted around to hurl a fist in the mans direction, the change in position led the exposure of his back to change as his side became the area of impact for the blade to penetrate the surface of his skin. He felt something, something tear at the surface of his flesh, right as his fist collided into the side of his assailants mouth. The man staggered back out of surprise and much to Ricky's own demise, his shortcoming of being more aware to the situation led him to suffer an injury upon his lower left side where the ribs were. Had he not reacted at all though then surely, his injury would've been far more worse therefore leaving him in a bind he no doubt wouldn't have easily gotten out of. With a sudden "whip" through the air Ricky looked in the direction of the Ivysess camp, a lone arrow sailed through the sky as it fell down into the area where Yuri and his friend had supposedly made off to.

"Son o' a-!" He turned his back towards the encampment as he now witnessed the unfolding scene where martyrs soon poured out, no doubt ready to create quite a stir with the new aquatic folk that they so despised. His lower left side hurt with pain that radiated all over, making the use of his left arm less bearable as he held it close to his torso with his left hand over the wound. Blood. Warm and wet to the touch as it soaked into the cloth of his uniform, how many times would he endure injuries or even face near death experiences? Alas he hadn't the time to think or dwell on that, as he had to draw out his elaborate longsword and clutch it tightly with his right hand. He might've been wounded but he wasn't down just yet, and he certainly wasn't going to let these men get away with the atrocity they committed in his own city.

[Yuri Lehrer]

It seemed to Yuri that the person hanging around Ricky was just being a general nuisance, so he turned back to face the Iyvess woman and Saraphina to take a more active part in the conversation that was still going on, even though not much had been said in the last few ticks, as he did so he noticed that the Iyvess woman had raised her hands and was pointing at Saraphina, when she did so she nodded and spoke a single word “Sara.” Yuri wondered what she was doing until she pointed at him and said “Yooray.” He thought to himself for a moment at this She must be identifying each of us… but she doesn’t seem to be done quite yet. While he had been thinking, the Iyvess woman pointed at herself and said “Shikar.” Slightly hissing the ‘s’ sound, Yuri paid no mind to this, believing that it was something that all of the Iyvess did, he also thanked Shikar in his mind for making her name easier to pronounce.

Shikar smiled, then spoke in the slightly broken common she seemed to be confident at using “Yuri, no worry.” She also had a concentrative look on her face when she turned back to face Saraphina, after a few ticks answered a question which Yuri mustn’t have heard while he walked towards them earlier “Hunt long in waters. Time for hunts over. Time for Seeking has come.” This made Yuri think What is this ‘Seeking’… I don’t quite understand, perhaps I should ask Shikar for some clarification? It seemed as though Shikar had read his mind as she furrowed her brow, thinking about something before speaking once more, gesturing towards the Iyvess encampment, hand splayed before making a grasping gesture “Den. Family. Family Lost. Seek Family.” Shikar turned to face Yuri continuing with what she was saying “Seek to protect. Like Warrior.” Yuri nodded at this; he could understand the value of family wanting to protect one another, it also made him reflect on his childhood when he lived on Black Rock, blinking a couple of times to clear his thoughts, when he looked back at Shikar she seemed to be studying him, as though judging him for something.

When Shikar’s judgment seemed to be complete she said a single word “Come.” With that she looked towards the Iyvess encampment and began walking towards what looked like a much larger version of his campfire, Yuri cast one last cursory glance back towards Ricky to see if anything had changed, it hadn’t, before walking after both Saraphina and Shikar. After a short while, when they were within the confines of the camp Shikar turned her head so that she was glancing over her shoulder at Saraphina and Yuri, and began to speak “Is time for-“ her sentence was cut off when a whistling noise followed by an arrow pierced her shoulder, the impact made her stumble backwards. Yuri’s immediate thought for a reaction was to immediately run over to Shikar and try to help her, but the angry bellow of a nearby male Iyvess made him stop that line of thought, before he had started moving. Looking around for the source of the arrow, Yuri found that any of the Iyvess whom were nearby had drawn weapons, when his gaze passed over the entrance of the camp, he saw a group of armed men storming into the camp, he looked over at Saraphina to see if she had noticed, which she had, Saraphina was already shouting at the group of attackers, even as the armed Iyvess around her and Yuri began closing on them, what she did next was call out to the Iyvess that she would fight with them, removing her shirt and shoes, Yuri knew what was coming next and he set about turning to face the camp's attackers as well.

After a moment of drawing breath into his lungs, Yuri called out to the Iyvess as well “I ALSO MEAN YOU NO HARM, I WILL ALSO FIGHT WITH YOU IYVESS!” After calling out, Yuri reached into his cloak and drew out his Broadsword, before slowly walking towards the group of attackers, calling out to the Iyvess as he went, trying to sound more authoritative than he felt “IYVESS, THIS IS YOUR HOME, I WILL HELP YOU DEFEND IT, SO PLEASE, STAND WITH ME!” When he was a reasonable distance from the attackers, Yuri noticed that one of the attackers had a bow and seemed to be leading the attack, thinking to himself while he adopted his ready stance, he began praying that the Iyvess wouldn’t attack him and any sort of strategy to remove the leader from the fight, as he prepared for the battle that was to come.

[Perplexity]

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The Iyvess rallied to the defense of the wounded Shikar. Two male Dhani quickly came to her aid but she waved them away pointing at the oncoming group of aggressors. From her mouth came a forceful command in Fratava as she picked herself up off the ground. She narrowly avoided getting speared with another arrow as she rose to her feet taking hold of a spear and dagger offered by one of her denmates. The encroaching Iyvess bearing down upon Saraphina would pause as she shifted form. The meaning of her words nearly escaped them until another biting command came from the mouth of Shikar again in the language native to the Svefra. The same could be said for Yuri. His rallying cry was heard to which he received a shout of approval from a few of the Dhani water-dwellers.

And then the two sides collided.

The gang of angry, paranoid citizens descended upon the Iyvess encampment like a swarm of bees. It was chaos. There was no order to this attack. This was the disorganized brawl of xenophobic dissenters unwilling to go along with the more open minded position of the city leaders. A rag tag group of rabble-rousers as soon as they converged upon the Iyvess it was clear that these were not disciplined fighters come together in militant force. Quite the contrary, the handful of Wave Guards assembled were busy trying to detain and dissuade others at the edges of the beach. The same could not be said for the Dhani.

The Iyvess were a people continually on the hunt. They were warriors trained to fight and survive from the minute they were birthed. Whether they stayed beneath the waves guarding the aquatic home of the Charoda or wandered the depths of the sea, these were no strangers to combat. It quickly became apparent that if something were not done soon it would quickly become a bloodbath.

Saraphina

Though the Iyvess came to a halt as Saraphina shifted from her human form to her animal one there could be no luck found in facing the angry citizens of Zeltiva. A loud cry came from off to her side as a group of brawlers entangled themselves with the Dhani warriors. One bulky man pointed at Saraphina in her tiger form shouting with wide eyes before glaring.

“Witch! Sorceress!” In his hands he held a heavy club that might have been awkward in the hands of a normal man but this large brute seemed to carry it just fine. He charged forward barreling through the line of Iyvess and humans headed straight for Saraphina. He raised the club high, a murderously angry gleam in his eyes as he heaved the club down aiming straight for her head.

Yuri

It was not long before the noise of battle surrounded the mercenary. Spears clashed against swords. Voices cried out in pain as blades met flesh. Something might have caught Yuri’s attention then. Though the Dhani warriors were fighting they seemed only to be engaging those who attacked them outright. Even then there was the deflection of blows or perhaps a non-lethal wound being inflicted upon a novice brawler before being rendered unable to fight. The Iyvess were defending themselves but there was a clarity to the precision of their tactics. There was no hesitation to meet blow for blow but when given the chance to kill…they didn’t take it.

“Traitor! How could you side with these monsters!?” A man carrying a longsword matching Yuri in height and build rushed him. From the look in his eyes there would be no reasoning with him. He rolled out of the way of a wayward brawler caught up with an Iyvess warrior making straight for the mercenary. As he came upon Yuri he brought up his sword in a low crouch before leaping into actions swinging it toward Yuri’s midsection. From the way he handled the blade and the way he moved, he knew what he was doing.

Ricky

Ricky’s assailant stumbled back grabbing his face and dropping the dagger as he was punched in the side of his jaw. He tripped backward flailing his arms in the air like a windmill before falling hard upon his rump with a pronounced grunt. He blinked for a moment to clear his head before scrambling to pick up the dagger. When it was firmly in hand he jumped to his feet albeit a little unsteady. Beady eyes glared at Ricky as he clutched the blade with more familiarity than one would have expected from a bumbling drunkard.

“It’s sludge like you, idiots like you, who let the taint spread through our city that causes our suffering! I won’t stand for it anymore! I won’t!” He let out a cry holding the dagger in a position parallel to the length of his arm as he charged Ricky. His footsteps weren’t exactly the more surefooted but what he lacked in that department he seemed to make up for in momentum. He lunged forward bringing the dagger up to deflect any would-be blows from the sword while his other arm proceeded to move into an uppercut aimed at Ricky’s gut.

[Saraphina Skyglow]

Saraphina Skyglow S araphina's words and swift retreat gained her precious seconds. Time she desperately needed to change forms. Boots were kicked off, slacks shimmed down her legs and a quick dodge to the side as her human form faded. Now standing tall and proud in her Tiger form, she spun towards the oncoming horde of angery Zeltivians. Drawing in a deep breath, she roared out a challenge and thundered forward with the Ivyvess hunters. Spear and dagger wielding men and women met with the crowd seeking their deaths. Blows were exchanged and strange, hissing words flowed from the snake shifters. Saraphina wasn't much of a tactician, but even she could tell that the Dhani's were well organized and would fight to defend their people. And she would help them. No one deserved to be treated with hatred simply for existing. L unging forward with her mouth of serrated, meat tearing teeth, the Kelvic bit down hard onto the calf muscle of one of the brawling citizens trying to wrestle with one of the Ivyvess hunters. The howl of pain and flailing arms gave the Dhani's water-dweller sufficient time to deliver a swift hit that immobilized the fighter. Saraphina released her grip and spun towards the angry sound of a male screaming at her. A huge, muscle bound hulk of a human wielding a massive club barreled towards her. Saraphina's golden eyes widened as the weapons flew towards her head. Jerking to the side, she felt the wind of the club brush by her side. The fur was ruffled and the stink of alcohol and hate poured from the human. Clearly, he was determined to see the Kelvic pounded into a puddle of blood and bone. Fortunately, Saraphina didn't agree with his opinion. H owever, the rage of the man was clearly making him move faster than she'd expected. Even as the club collided with the sandy beach harmlessly, the brute swung the weapons sideways, catching the Tiger in the ribs. The wind was knocked from Saraphina's lungs, but the force was far less than it could have been with a swinging start. The predator stumbled from the blow, side aching fiercely, but she was a fighter at heart. She would not fall to a single, pitiful hit wielded by a closed minded racist idiot. Unsheathing her claws and roaring in pain and anger, the Tiger swiped a ham sized paw across the man's meaty face, hoping to rend open flesh and leave four deep gouges inlayed into muscle. Rearing up after her attack, Saraphina tried to locked her paws around the man's torso so she could bear him to the ground where she could truly unleash the fury of the wilds on this fool.

[Ricky Maze]

Ricky's eyes sharpened solely on the man that managed to inflict injury on him as the bumbling fool finally seemed to stand once more, at best he knew that there wasn't going to be any way to avoid this sort of conflict now that the die had been cast already. These men were here to make an example somehow, and given that their target was yet again outsiders, Ricky could easily deduct the reason is that past mistakes were taken into consideration. As the drunkard stood to his feet with eyes filled with distasteful hate, the guard merely stood in place with a blank expression that never did change. It was because he was caught in very dire situation, a present issue that seemed to make his reasons for being what he was seem conflicted, because how could be be a guard and protect his city when it was his own people that he had to somehow end up fighting?

The man cast what seemed like an insult at first but there was something more to it than that, there was motivation behind the words as the father tried to comprehend where this man was coming from. In the drunks assault to Ricky there was only but a moment to act, where it looked as though he was facing an incoming strike, the fisherman blocked it with ease even with the built of momentum, but that wasn't the problem he had to face. Since Ricky's fighting one handed at the moment his free hand couldn't exactly be free at the moment, and given his apprehension to inflict injury upon a person which came from the same environment, there was pretty good reason as to why Ricky showed such reluctance in wanting to combat these individuals. Yet he wouldn't let what they did stand, he wanted to see they be punished for their crime. How was he suppose to carry out that kind of justice, specifically when it involved inflicting pain and suffering on those he swore to protect.

Ricky's gave a slight grunt at the block but when he failed to comprehend the coming of the fist it was too late, the guard felt the impact of a punch laid against his lower gut and that brought a loud pant out of him. He felt his left side as well as his lower torso twinge as pain continued to radiate and weakly travel elsewhere in the body, while the origin of the injuries felt strongly upon infliction. Why?! He staggered backwards several feet as his left hand slid from his side over to his stomach, his expression filled with pain and uneasiness as he tried to come to terms with the reality he was set to face. Oi've worked 'ard, done all Oi can t' protect dis city. Everytime Oi 'ave faced a problem, Oi've come t'rough because o' what Oi... No that wasn't it. He didn't represent the ideals of his city, but the ideals of his own beliefs. They however didn't change anything, they only provided him the motivation to continue this role, however long he believed he served to officially protect the city.

"Yer a fool. Ye're wrong t' t'ink t'ese people would cause us sufferin, blamin' dem fer past mistakes t'ey had no part o', dat makes ya de idiot fer t'inkin' so poorly." He stated as he brought his sword close to his torso in a more defensive position, one that favored guarding better as he tried to prolong the inevitable he fear was to come. He at least wanted answers before he allowed himself to carry on like this, before he would be forced to face the fact he would have to fight and likely injure if not kill civilians, all while dealing with the regret that would torment him in turn if he indeed had to take a life. "So tell me dis, just why?!" He proclaimed as he brought his blade up to defend against another coming blow, only this time he used the blade to bash his enemy back once the dagger had been caught. "Why attack innocent people when t'ey ain't done no wrong?! De Denvali made t'eir own mistakes, so why compare t'ese people t' dem?!" His curiosity made him all the more demanding, all while he pursued to find reason before madness. He couldn't allow himself to surrender to the heat of battle, not when it very much clashed with the ideals he so wanted to keep alive for so long.

[Yuri Lehrer]

Yuri didn’t have to wait long for the battle to be joined, the group of attackers pouring into the Iyvess encampment, the sounds were something he would likely never forget, the clash of metal meeting metal, the cries of those who were injured as a blade or well-placed blow found its mark. Looking around the encampment turned battlefield, Yuri noticed that while the Iyvess were fighting, they only rendered people unable to fight, instead of taking lives, he nodded to himself as he engaged someone with a dagger, determined to try to either talk the person down, or knock him down if need be. As the man with the dagger lunged, trying to stab Yuri in his midriff, he sidestepped quickly, letting the man’s momentum carry him too forward, before grabbing his arm and dragging him off balance before bringing the pommel of his sword down on the back of the man’s head, rendering him senseless, and no longer part of the fight.

Turning his head back to the battle, Yuri tried to find the man who seemed to be leading the charge, it was almost impossible to focus on a single event, given that there was so much going on around him, with some difficulty he saw that there was a single man with a bow, to him it seemed like the bowman was the one giving the orders, so he set off towards the man at a cautious pace. Before he had gone very far however a voice stopped him “Traitor! How could you side with these monsters!?” Looking around for the source of the voice, Yuri saw a man who looked similar in height and build to himself carrying a longsword, rushing towards him with a frenzied look in his eyes, there would be no reasoning with this man, the Swordsman rolled to the side, avoiding a clash between a brawler and one of the Iyvess. When the other man came out of his roll, he brought himself up into a crouch before leaping towards Yuri slicing his blade towards his midsection.

It was apparent to Yuri that the other man knew how to use his blade, perhaps he was a mercenary like himself, but it was not the time for thought, it was now a time for action, Yuri used his own blade to deflect the blow to the right, hoping it would allow him to follow up with a counter-strike, a blow to the arm to either reduce the other man’s combat effectiveness, or a blow to the leg to reduce his mobility. However if the other man recovered quickly Yuri would stand in a defencive stance, awaiting the other man’s next move, thinking about what to do next, decided to try talking to the man, to bring him to a reasoning level, speaking loudly and with as much authority in his tone as he could muster Yuri began talking to the Longswordsman “How have I betrayed you? These people were welcomed here by almost everyone in the city, and you chose to attack them, I see no error in taking the side of a people who are being attacked for no reason, if you are judging them by the mistakes of the Denvali, then you are wrong to do so.”

[Perplexity]

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Saraphina

The bestial strength of Saraphina in her tiger form would prove to be what saved her from getting pounded into a bloody pulp. Her aggressor was a bear of a man, tall and hulking with muscles. While he was slower compared to some of the other brawlers who seemed engaged in struggles all around he made up for it in dominating the fight with his sheer presence. As the Kelvic swiped her paw at his face he grasped the club with both hands swatting at her paw with a grunt stepping away from her. The impact from his club was just enough to prevent him from getting half of his face ripped off. If only by an inch or two. The club, for what it was worth, was sent flying from his hands as a result. When the tiger jumped upon him he dropped bracing himself by digging the heels of his feet into the sand and pushing forward with a shoulder to slam directly into Saraphina’s chest as she leapt at him.

The force of his shoulder hitting Saraphina directly in the chest would be enough to wind her and bring about a shift in the trajectory of her leap. The push of her ribcage pressing against her lungs would no doubt cause her to be imbalanced. The large man was breathing heavily. He glared down at Saraphina raising his fists preparing himself to pummel her great feline body with blows.

“Filthy witch! Hiding behind your sorcery! Defending these outsiders! You’re no better than the mercenaries that killed my son!” He bellowed charging forward. There was an intense hate in the man’s eyes…but behind them was the heavy grief that had finally boiled over into a desperate rage. The futile attempt of a father grasping for a chance to make right what he believed was so wrong. Heavy footfalls beat their way through the sand as he barreled toward Saraphina. He raised his fists high fully intending to bring them down upon her broad back. This man was heedless of the fact that he was facing down a deadly animal capable of rending his flesh to shreds.

Ricky

The drunkard stumbled back as his thrust was parried by Ricky’s swordsmanship. He took a moment to gain his bearings leaving himself vulnerable to an attack though it never came. He huffed grabbing the hilt of the dagger with both of his hands staring at Ricky with a wide-eyed albeit determined expression.

“Because we are doing what you, you guards, you militiamen failed to do! We won’t suffer these monsters! They’re DHANI! They’re freaks! Vicious creatures waiting to strangle the life out of all of us! And yet what do you do? You welcome them? You’re not our protector! You’re no better than the wolves come to slaughter the sheep!” He charged once more though his footing was a little off. Still, what he lacked in finesse he made up for in sheer momentum. The dagger came straight for Ricky’s chest fully intent on piercing through the shirt and straight into his lung. This man would not see reason. Not yet. There burned in him too much anger to see clarity. It was only made worse by the fact that he had obviously resorted to a life lived for the drink to drown out his troubles.

Ricky’s comrades in arms, the other Wave Guards, were busy trying to keep more skirmishers from joining the fight taking place on the beach. They pushed back at a small but growing mob of citizens that were most decidedly not happy at the presence of Iyvess in their city. It looked like Ricky would be on his own for this fight. Whether that meant he would simply subdue or kill his opponent the consequences would be his and his alone.

Yuri

Yuri’s quick actions saved him from getting slashed in the side by the blade. The opposing fighter that met his blade did so with obvious strength. He clashed with Yuri’s sword meeting him move for move before jumping back to circle his opponent eyeing his stance. There was a fierce glare on the fighter’s face as he studied Yuri.

“These are monsters. Sludge dragged up from the bottom of the sea and spit out on our shore. You speak to them? You hear the slithering hiss of their speech? They’re beasts that will kill us just as soon as we turn our backs. You think because they haven’t tried now that they won’t when given a real opening? Look at them!?” He gestured to the crowd around them. All around them there were people locked in a struggle of some sort. Some of the Zeltivans were obviously wounded, trying to drag themselves away from the bulge of conflict that swelled all around them. Some were lucky. Some found themselves desperate screaming trying to keep from getting trampled.

The Iyvess were handling themselves but they were outnumbered. In some cases the Sea-Dwelling Dhani were being forced to face down two opponents at once. While they were obviously skilled fighters the brawling couldn’t last forever. Shikar stood flanked by two of her tribesmen facing down a handful of fighters armed with steel and intent on bathing the sands of the beach in blood. The cacophony of battle filled the air from wrathful roars to heart wrenching cries of agony. Yuri’s opponent charged him once more bringing his sword up at an angle from the ground, a maneuver intended to break through the young man’s defenses and leave him exposed.

“Fight with us or die with these beasts!”