[M] Ice, Thorns and Blood [IC]

[V]

Ice, Thorns and Blood

The OOC Thread (http://role-player.net/forum/showthread.php?t=6294)

Inside the tower the few that would embark on a journey of discovery stood before Commander Rederick. Every wall was ice white, the air was cold, nothing felt right. Behind the commander the portal swirled with purple lines and images that hinted behind – a snow covered field prominent. Rederick addressed them all thanking them for choosing to risk themselves on the task. He wore thick layers of furs to battle the cold, an axe on his back alongside his supply sack.


~~~
~~~


Zantas only half listened to his commander, it was the same old thing, about heroism and this and that. Something that sounded interesting but was far duller if you'd heard it before. Many times. Inside the knight focused on himself. And his companions.

He was as good as read, all wrapped up tight in furs and heavy clothing. The old long sword at it's trusty place to his left, his round shield over his back. Like the commander he also had a small pack in case the expedition was longer than a brief inspection of the surrounding areas. Over both hands thick padded gloves protected from the cold, his usual single black underneath the left.

One companion was a mage; Zantas was fine with this. As long as he, Raab? Didn't cast something destructive into him when his back was turned. Beside him there were a pair of ladies, an archer and someone who appeared to have fought battle after battle after battle. Her scarred body the result. The archer was quiet. A mysterious hooded fellow, who spoke with an odd voice, was also present, armed with many blades.

The small party, as Zantas saw it, was quite varied. Hopefully everything would go smooth and their skills wouldn't be necessary....

[Red Fox]

Raab had walked up the icy stairs of the tower, he was smart enough to have fastened some ice-waking spikethings to his shoes, so that he would not slip and die.
It was cold, like being in a freezer of sorts, which was not that weird given their current location, inside a frozen tower, ice all around you.
It shimmered and glinted a pretty light, and was strangely hypnotic if you allowed it to draw you in, it was almost like the tower was covered in diamond, with different coloring lights refracting within it.

As he got to the top, strangely light clothed for the mission, the main change was not more than a heavier cloak to ward of the needed heat, the rest he could do with magic if needed, even though he did not have any warming powers per se, he could create friction, even a wind shield around his limbs and body, with his barrier magic; so he was strangely versatile for his specific specialization.

The rest of the group formed fast enough, it seemed like this group was rather varied, there looked to be a few melee fighters, an archer and Raab himself.
He could not quite judge anyone’s level of skill, but he doubted they would have been chosen from a lottery without the ability to fight.
Raab had long since started ignoring the commander, preaching about things that they already knew, stating the common sense, he just wanted to smack him and get this thing moving. It was not helping anyone to stand here and listen to a speech that sounded so practiced that it became bland.
But right now, he was just waiting for this thing to start, he was a tad eager even though he, at the same time, would much rather sleep back home.

[Mirage]

Lissandra Hrath was not interested in the Captain's high-minded speech. Her green eyes instead darted around the room, examining the ice structures that had formed there. She knelt down, ignoring the cold that she could feel even through her thick pants, and chipped a little of the ice off with her dagger. She examined the way it shone and placed it on her tongue with a puzzled frown. When she stood, she gazed past the captain into the swirling portal. She was very much the warrior and she did not trust in magic. True, this would be a great adventure but the portal could send them anywhere and then leave them stranded.

She turned her eyes from the portal, discomfited by its utter wrongness, and looked at her few companions. They were a mixed lot, a thin little archer who Lissandra could have snapped in half with just her pinky, two men who looked very much like magic-users, and a warrior. None of them looked like they were listening to the Captain's speech. Lissandra chuckled softly into her fur hood and hitched her pack farther up onto her shoulders. "Let us hear no more speeches, Captain," she said loudly. "That is not what we came here for. Are we to wait in this room until we all die of frostbite?"

[Crow]

Areneth stepped up the stairs, her cute shoes sliding only a tiny bit on the ice. She slowly peeked into the room full of people, her blonde hair trailed a bit over her face a bit as she looked around... It was mostly men in the room until she spied another female, it at least made her feel not so outnumbered.

Aren slowly stepped into the room, feeling a but under dressed beneith her long coat. The others wore armour made of steel...all she had looked like beach-wear. She slowly stepped to the back of the group of people, she played with her hair and fiddled with the beads in it as she stared up at the captian. She was, after all a kid compared to the others.

[GraftRaven]

Krath stood, hands on his swords' hilts and dressed in his usual black cloak, looking around at the others. A knight, a mage, a battle-scarred and tough looking female, and an archer. There was actually one more in the room, the man now babbling on about heroism, it sounded more like something you would say to a battle-line rather than a hand-picked expedition team and Krath wished very much for the man to eat one of his daggers.

Krath brought his hands together and blew into them, creating a small flame that felt wonderful in the frozen tower. He tossed it absent-mindedly from hand to hand, trails of steam following it through the air.After a few seconds he tossed the ball up to his hood where it disappeared into his mouth which the others could not see. Krath suddenly felt much warmer having absorbed the heat from the consumed flame.

The larger female spoke up, effectively stopping the captain mid-sentence and causing a little surprise. Krath waited until the lady finished speaking, then took his turn. "Indeed, captain, any longer and our feet might freeze to the floor and we'll be no use at all." His hands moved back to his swords, gripping the hilts tightly to resist using one to cut the captain to pieces.

[V]

The Commanders speech was ignored, eventually halted altogether by Lissandra Hrath, the berserker. Krath added his own opinion, everyone that looked in his direction could see him grip a blade hilt. The Knight in the room wasn't listening at all; his green eyes only focusing once more after realising the silence. Very well, the commander said and promptly turned and entered the twirling purple portal.


~~~
~~~

Without anything to say, but a grunt and shake of his head, Zantas walked toward the strange and unknown. He hesitated at the last second before passing through. It was over in a flash; images that meant nothing - a field of snow, a winding road full of green scenery, and a tower in the distance - flashed before giving the warrior one look back into the Icy High Tower.

Tumbling into a sludge of white Zantas fell to one knee after several steps. Groaning he stared about disorientated but was uninjured from the travel. A moment he rose steady and looked about for danger. But there was nothing around on the hillside covered in snow.

Nothing at all. And no one. The Commander who had went before him had not appeared. Zantas turned back to look for the portal but there wasn't one. Only what appeared to be four purple figures following him.

[Red Fox]

Raab wanted to congratulate the girl for actively messing with the captain’s flow of words, as it ended he looked slightly annoyed, but it was all for the better.

Though, it was only after the speech had ended before the commander actually managed to surprise Raab, he actually went though first?
And here Raab almost assumed that the captain would remain in the tower, sitting warm and eating safe while he sent his subordinates to an unknown world for all they knew. Well, this was a good thing, the speech aside, this action suddenly made the commander worthy of his position; if nothing else it proved that he had guts.

A man looking like a fighter went though after, and Raab assumed that it was easier to just get it over with.
As he walked towards the portal, his left-hand index finger and thumb stroked the green gem around his neck once, and from his head down to this feet a barely visible dim-green layer formed around him. Though this might seem like a cowardly thing to do, barrier oneself as you walk though, he could not care less, if something went to hell at least his chances of survival sky-rocketed compared to if he did not do this.

As he entered it was almost walking though a vertical puddle, just that it was over as soon as it started, just that before images started flashing before his eyes, they seemed random so he didn’t pay that much attention to them at this time. The tower he came from disappeared, and now he were more or less kicked out on the other side, and had he not used the barrier around himself to basically fly or hover, he would most likely have ended up with a face full of snow.
As his sense of equilibrium was again present, the barrier around him disappeared and he started taking in the surroundings.
It was almost as if they were in a valley, some mountains here and there in addition to plenty snow, the fighter was not far from Raab himself, but the commander was nowhere to be seen.
In the air where Raab was shot out, there were some purple shadows, where they enemies or was this something related to the portal?
He remained aware, but didn’t take action until he knew what it was.

“Where is the commander?” he asked the fighter to his side as he eyed the surroundings, casting a glance back at the purple shades.

[Crow]

Areneth, the archer looked around a bit cautiously before stepping into the portal. It felt really strange... Almost gooey in some places. She opened her eyes when she was just exiting the portal, now she wished that she wore her other set of clothes and a winter coat. She landed in the snow face first with her jacket open, she quickly scrambled upwards and buttoned her coat up and wiped the snow off her face.

It seemed a little bit desolate here, she wished that the place would have been at least somewhat warm.

[GraftRaven]

Krath stepped through the portal, feeling like he was stepping through a tin sheet of water and then felt nothing below him and fell. He landed face first, neck snapping back painfully, right next to Areneth, but took a few seconds to get up, neck cracking as he flexed it. He then turned to Areneth, catching a glimpse of what was under her trench-coat. "Looks to me that you should have brought something warmer to wear, missy." He said, a hint of humor in his voice "If you get too cold let me know." All humor was gone from his voice this time, and he turned his gaze away from the archer and began walking, melting a path through the knee high snow.

Krath came to stand between and just behind the other two. "I was going to congratulate the commander for growing a spine, but it seems he's disappeared." He pulled out one of his knives and fingered the edge. "I think i'll gut him when we find him, unless he's got one hell of an explanation."

[Mirage]

Lissandra watched the others go through and saw their figures in the portal. She hitched her pack up and did a quick check of her weapons before stepping through the portal. It was very disorienting, pictures flashed around her dizzyingly and when she stepped into the snow on the other side she fell to her knees. She stayed that way for a moment, oblivious of her companions until the world settled down. Slowly, she climbed to her feet and looked around her, her hand on her broadsword. However, there were only the others and the snow.

She caught Krath's comment and shook her head. "There must have been something wrong with the portal. You went right behind him, didn't you?" she asked of the fighter ((Zantas)). She thought perhaps that she should have known the names of these people but wasn't really interested. Despite the seeming innocence of their surroundings, her hand did not stray from her sword.

[V]

"I don't know," Zantas replied to the mage, "there aren't any foot prints leading away." By the time he finished speaking the others had arrived. The one with many blades said something about gutting the commander if they found him. The scarred lady asked Zantas about the commander, he shrugged and said to the group, "something like the portal existing in the first place.

"I did but I didn't see anything else. Just another mystery to screw with us. Any one have any suggestions on which way to go?" He asked.

~~~

In all directions, the fields of snow seemed to run on. However looking downward into a valley nearby several buildings could be seen. Deep smoke rising from the structures from a recent attack of sorts. Leading away from the village in the opposite direction appeared to be a road or path.

[Crow]

Areneth made a sort of thinking face before puting her hands in her pocket. Her eyes widened as she pulled out an ancient-looking rock about the size of a baseball with little holes in it, it was an invention of her father's and it was one of the few successful ones. She looked around at the others a bit nervously before taking one of the beads out of her hair and putting it in the biggest hole, she then took off her trenchcoat and turned one of the sides, closing her eyes tightly. She was unsure if it'll work.

[Mirage]

Lissandra nodded toward the plumes of smoke. "I suggest we head toward those. Despite the fact that we seem to be without our commaning officer," she said this with the deepest scorn, "we could also freeze out here. It's cold enough and I, personally, would prefer to return home after this adventure."

She looked around at the others to see if she had their support and her eyes came to rest on the youngest of the group. The girl had taken off her coat to reveal that she hardly wore any clothing, she was also acting very strangely. Lissandra stalked up to her and snapped her fingers under the girl's nose. "You! What are you doing?" This was hostile territory and for all she knew the girl could be involved with the enemy.

[TwinDeath]

Xaul stepped through the portal, emerging next to the others. Unlike most of them, he was clad in no less than five ragged, tattered cloaks of graying white over his normal garb. The overlapping shades of white camouflaged him very well against the snow, and while the layers of wool weren’t as nice looking as fur, they were just as warm. “Sorry for being late,” he muttered. “I had to attend to someone.” Smiling toothily, he wiped a spot of blood off his cheek.

“Agreed,” rumbled Xaul after Lissandra finished. “Besides, there could be some people left to… ‘question’, shall we say.” Xaul smirked, drawing a throwing knife and spinning it pointedly in one gloved hand. “And yes, girlie. What the hell are you doing? Ain’t no one here going to carry your frozen ass. Here, take this.” Xaul slipped off his outermost cloak and thrust it at the young woman.

[Crow]

Areneth then opened her eyes to reveal her naturally green eyes glowing slightly as she lifted her own head and blinked as her head slowly cocked to the side and a smile came across her face. A sparkle surrounded her feet and swirled up her body as a new set of clothes appeared, it was a bit more suiting for the weather. The light then retracted from her eyes as she shook her head a bit and she bent down to pick up the rock and held it in her hand as she shook it and her bead fell out.

Areneth then put the bead back into her hair and smiled before raising both eyebrows and smirking. She then snapped her fingers under the other woman's nose and then stuck her tongue out playfully. She then picked up the assassin's coat and tossed it back at him and giving him a wink.

[[Here is the new outfit (http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e222/light_of_aeris/trainerrikku.jpg). Ignore the monkey]]

[Red Fox]

Raab smiled a little for himself as he looked away from the group; they were so different. He wondered how this would work in battle, would they manage to work together, would they fall into chaos and fail, or would they fight individually but as a team and in some strange way prevail.
Only time would tell.

Though Raab could create a barrier for him to stand on, or something like this, and fly up higher and scout the area, he did not really feel like doing more than needed, and he was lucky enough since no one should know about the specifics if his power or what he was able to do, this might save him some work later on.
His main reason for being here was not really known, but he blamed curiosity and the reward should he make it back, after all, he rarely does anything for nothing.

“I agree, let’s go to the village, if nothing else we can get some information.” Raab stated to the group, as he decided to ignore the child-like playing of the lot and walk ahead from them.
Though he was not really that old, he felt older than the others, at least at the present moment. He knew somewhere deep inside that once he warmed up to them, his own childlike humor and behavior would sneak its way out, perhaps this was why he tried to create a distance between them, he did not want to warm up to them, not yet. Trust is earned, not given.

Raab sighed to himself as he had now gotten around a 10 meter head start (1 meter ~3ft) from the others, he wondered who would catch up first, the fighter? The other fighter with a strange magical aura; was he a spellsword? Perhaps one of the girls?
He did not know, nor did he really care, he mentally decided to look out for himself the best he could until he got to judge the combat proficiency of the rest, after all he did not plan to die in this world, not without reason; he did come here for a reason after all.

[Crow]

Areneth nodded and picked up her coat and put it on. She walked past the group to catch up to the spellcaster, she could move a bit faster since she was warmer. She picked up her dress as she walked through the snow. Her bow was strung to her back and it hit her with every step, she didn't like that everyone underestimated her because of her age... But she figured that she will show them her talent when the time comes.

[GraftRaven]

Krath watched the others, wondering how such people were chosen for such a mission. He did not say anything more, but instead walked off close behind the young girl, his black cloak contrasting sharply with the snow. Every few seconds a puff of vapor would rise from his hood, then he stopped and breathed a long tongue of crimson flames from his mouth, effectively melting a large swath of snow. His freedom from the impeding white substance allowed him to take longer strides and move faster than the others and he tipped an imaginary hat at Areneth as he passed her.

Krath wondered where this place was, even if it was the same time as they lived in, portals could be tricky that way. He took out his black dagger, the same one that had been used by an archmage ages ago to rip a hole in space, then he looked at his white one, which he had used to take the archmage's head... life was cruel.

[Lord Tully]

Gideon had finally figured out the route through the caste that lead to the center tower and had climbed up using the spike on the bottom of his spear to give him leverage (even then still slipping on the iced steps more then a few times along the way) reaching the top just in time to see the last few members of the group leave throught the portal. This meant that Gideon had gotten lost for so long that he missed the entire meeting with the commander, "Ahh shit, the commander is will not be pleased with me." He he told himself out loud before heading towards the portal at high speed, "Coming through!" He shouted to alert those on the otherside before leaping through the purple mist.

This leap landed Gideon face down in a large mound of snow, from which he picked himself up and found himself quite aways behind the rest of the people he was meant to accompany. He made as quick a pace as his plate armor allowed in the thick snow in an effort to catch up with his soon-to-be comrades "Hey, wait for a moment." he called out to the group and hoped that they did not see him as a threat.

[V]

There seemed to some issues with the group, but Zantas was staring over to the smoke ignoring them for the time. It was the only thing of any interest in the ares. Others around him agreed. The mage was the first to depart leaving in direct route to the mauled buildings. The youngest; the one who acted so strange tagged along. The knight lagged back a few moments - if there was any danger they could protect themselves. Otherwise why would any of them been chosen?

Zantas put himself last in the line approaching the smoke. Having the latecomer - he didn't know his name - at his back was a little unsettling. Despite the fact they were on the the same side.

"Hey, wait for a moment," a familiar voice called.

The knight turned to see the armored Dragoon rushing toward the group. Zantas stopped short and replied back with a loud voice, "Gideon? Didn't know you were coming!" He stood in the snow waiting for the spear wielder to catch up.

With all the strange people on the journey already, it was nice to know there was some one similar to Zantas himself around. What with the young archer girl, the dark knife who seemed to like hurting people. And at least with the dragoon he knew he wasn't going to get shot in the back by some spell. Not that Zantas didn't like magic users, he did (perhaps even appreciated them), but he founded it harder to trust them.

[Lord Tully]

Gideon finally caught up to the group and stopped to catch his breath for a moment, he then saw who it was who called out to him, "Zantas, is that you? I should've known that you'd jump at an opportunity like this, maybe this won't turn out so tragically after all." He answered the Knight, the two weren't terribly close friends, but he and Zantas had been placed in the same unit many times in the past so Gideon knew what he could do and had a healthy respect for the man.

Gideon stepped pasted Zantas, giving him a friendly pat on the shoulder as he went, to have a look at the others he would be travelling with and wasn't sure whether to be worried or not by the motley crew standing before him. The one that caught his eye most was small girl in what looked like a high-end dressing gown, ~Is she going to head into battle like that?~ he thought to himself, still Gideon saluted the group and introduced himself with "Gideon Kromwell, Dragoon of the King's 6th Battalion at your service." And he was unsure if he was going to regret that last bit later or not.

[Mirage]

Lissandra loped after the man, not trying to catch up with him or the others. She had a burning urge to put the silly, colorful girl into her proper place but she resisted. Still, the girl was a fool! Beside the fact that she had come only in a cloak she had then used magic, which could be traced, to produce herself a brightly colored coat. They were in a white, snowy wasteland. Colors showed up well. Her lips turned down into a scowl.

Suddenly, another man ran up to their group, gasping. She stopped, her hand on her sword until the fighter, Zantas, hailed him familiarly. It was only when the new man introduced himself that she realized that she did not know the names of the others. She stepped forward slightly and nodded to Gideon. "I am Lissandra Hrath," she said, adding no titles.

[Crow]

Areneth smiled for the new man who arrived, she wasn't much for introductions... But she was still polite towards him. She continued to look over at the smouldering village with a sort of trance-like stare.

[V]

Approaching the village, the few structures could be seen. Their husks of former wooden glory now blackened and destroyed. Wreckage's formed a ring of huts - appearing as though only a few people had once lived there. A larger building had only only been half pillaged, three walls and half the roofing remained. Separating the big hall from the other huts was the road - somehow cleared of snow.

Smoke rose from the charred, but the flames appeared to have died.

Inside these destroyed buildings what remained of the settlement could be found. Cooking utensils abandoned and broken, clothing burnt from the fires, small supplies of food, blankets.

The people of the settlement were slain. Blood mixed with ice. Wounds across the bodies desecrated natural forms. Some looked like they had been taking by surprising - slashes slicing through clothing ripping the flesh of backs underneath. Others seeing the coming attack had turned, some drawing knives. The weapons lay in the light snow beside the bodies.

Amongst the slaughter there appeared none of the enemy, none of those who had attacked.

[Wattz]

Late. Very, very late. She was already running through the snow on a straight forward path, hoping that it would at least be somewhat in the right direction. She was at least thankful that she’d abandoned her priestess robe for this excursion, for hiking up skirts in the middle of a snowy field sounded more than counterproductive.

But Louis had been vague about the assignment from the get-go, literally pushing her into the mysterious portal and into the sticky mess within. Just search for a large group, he’d told her. Bunch of other warriors led by a stuffy commander. They’ll lead you to where you’re supposed to go. Yes, because Olive hadn’t taken into consideration that finding a bunch of people in a snowy field might be just a little difficult. It was a shame that she also hadn’t taken her low stamina into consideration. She wasn’t exactly used to running around.

“Peachy,” she whispered to herself. “Just peachy.” She gripped her staff close to her, wondering how Louis would react to a quick thump on the head.

But then she heard voices, a little treat to brighten up the possibility that this might not be so difficult after all. “Hellooo?” She called out over and over again, continuing towards the sounds. It wasn’t long before she caught sight of them, all standing around as if looking for something to happen.

“Boy, am I glad I found you all so quick!” She sounded utterly relieved and gave an enormous smile. The atmosphere felt strange though, and most of the team seemed either confused or a touch somber.

“Hey, what’s – Oh, that.” It was only now that Olive saw the forlorn village, torn to pieces and burnt beyond repair. She bit her lip and looked at each and every member of the team, scratching the curly locks upon her head as she did so. “Well, this is heavier than I imagined, definitely.”

[Red Fox]

Raab had somewhat been leading the lot down the mountain to the village, or rather to the burnt ruins of it.
He had stopped outside the line that marked the village wall, everything was burned, what still sill stood upright was no less than completely black and more often than not, smoking at least.
As yet another person came down the hill, Raab was starting to wonder how many people there were going to be around here, at least the possibility of strength in numbers became possible.

As soon as the newcomer entered the group, Raab exited it, stepping though and over the debris gaining access to the town.
Corpses scattered around, wounds made from what looked to be crude bladed weapons, or claws, most likely the former but it didn’t seem like clean sword slashes; more like large knives that were poorly maintained… or something.
He could not be sure, but from the wounds depth and how the cuts looked, it seemed that the ones that had done this used force to compensate for the blades sharpness. This was not a good thing as this signaled that they might be large, or at least somewhat strong.

Continuing to investigate the village, he found things that survived the fires, mostly cooking wares and the odd tool, nothing that was really worth picking up and carrying with them.
Walking to a more central location of this small village, the remaining snow soaked to a clear red color, the road strangely free from snow and a large house, perhaps the village hall or something, seemed to have been raided as well but left somewhat intact.

Starting to look further away, looking at surrounding mountains and what he could see from the places outside the wall, there were no sign of any life there, even a clear lack of footprints.
This was interesting, yet something that triggered Raab’s ‘on edge’ feeling; he did not like to be caught unawares so a clear mind was needed which in turn made him ignore most of the brutal attacks on the villagers.

He kept looking around as he let the others do as they wished.

[Lord Tully]

Gideon searched through the houses looking for survivors, it didn't feel right that he was standing in the middle of this massacre and that he couldn't have done anything about it. Another party member came up to them in in the village, it seemed like she was another mage of some kind but he could not tell, he went up to her and introduced himself simply as "Gideon" this time since his full title didn't seem to impress anyone else. He moved onto another house and heard someone moving around, "There's someone still alive here!" He rushed into the house, almost desperate to find anyone who had survived this mess. Gideon went in through a hole in the wall with his spear at the ready in case it was one of the attackers, he found a young man in what was left of a bed room trying to hide in a cupboard, but with what seemed like a broken leg he was having difficulties with the task. The man turned and saw Gideon and panicked "Stay back, I won't let you take me!" the man shouted as he swinging a broken chair leg at Gideon, "Whoa, calm down good sir, we're here to help you." He responded stay out of the reach of the would-be club. "Do any of you have any healing potions or maybe some magic?" He called out to the rest of the party

[Mirage]

Lissandra peered at the snow around the buildings as she moved cautiously through the burnt remains of the village, her sword drawn. There were footprints, the ground was churned up, but none that lead away from the village. She frowned. This made her extremely uncomfortable. One of the others, Gideon, shouted out that he had found a survivor and she hurried over. The man was crouched inside of one of the burnt buildings and he looked decidedly paranoid.

"What happened here?" she asked him. She knelt before him, laying her sword down between them in a peaceful gesture. "Who were your aggressors and where did they go?"

[Wattz]

“Name’s Olive,” she responded when Gideon introduced himself, though she wasn’t given much of a chance to say anything else before he and the rest of them wandered into the ruins to investigate. Olive bit her lip and tapped her chin, nervous that this was the first thing she witnessed upon arriving. Maybe running away to another city would have been a better choice after all.

She didn’t have much of a desire to explore the ruins, but almost immediately after Gideon had gone off to explore, she heard him yelling for a healer. “What a coincidence,” she mumbled to herself in a bemused fashion. Olive arrives and they urgently need a healer. Oh, cruel fate.

“Er, yes, well,” Olive said as she straightened herself out and examined the struggling man. The woman named Lissandra was already rushing forward, kneeling before him and interrogating him on what might have happened. His leg was obviously broken and he had quite a few other wounds. He was delirious and thrashing about, a reasonable reaction to the trauma he must have witnessed. “Well, let’s have a look see.” She leaned down across from the warrior woman, examining his leg and any other cuts and bruises he might have as she placed her staff at her side. “Yup, definitely broken. Course, doesn’t really take a healer to notice that now, does it? Hm… yes, let’s see….”

She placed her palms flat out, sensing his positive energy and feeling the negative energy emitting from his leg. She began to pull on the energy, her hands moving as if it were a tangible object. She moved as much positive energy towards the leg as was safe, finally placing her hands on the broken bone and channeling slight amounts of her own life force towards the pain. This would help alleviate some of it, as well as strengthen the bones for future recovery. She did, however, need to splint the bone so that the man could be better transported.

[Crow]

Areneth continued to look on at the smouldering villiage, was this the reason the commander assembled them? she shook the thought from her head as she stood fairly distant from the group as she looked around, it looked as if life was currently impossible to thrive here. And seeing the smouldering bodies, it greatly disurbed her. She gently held her sleeve to her mouth as a small tear escaped from her eyes, she couldn't look away.

[V]

Another joined the party before Zantas walked into the village. But he was too distracted by what he saw to noticed who she was or what she did.

Less snow made for much easier walking but the sights around the village weren't nice. Carnage and destruction throughout, the fee bodies he saw were completely decimated. The instant he saw the first he had drawn his long sword in case whoever had done this remained. But there was quiet about and nothing lunged from the shadows. Only a soft occasional gust of wind could be heard. The knight's guard was still up returning to the centre of the courtyard.

Gideon's voice rang out, a survivor had been found. The scarred lady reached the hut first asking for any information on the attackers. But the newest member came to; a healer it seemed as she began to look after the young man. Zantas peered in the side of the wrecked building but didn't approach.

Instead he went to the youngest member of the group who stood alone. “Hey, are you alright?” He asked. He was going to say something more when his eyes caught some movement far away in the snow. Atop a ridge near the road he saw something coming.

~~~
~~~

They were coming back, the snow didn't seem to affect them. They moved quick but unorganized, some stumbled and tripped the others going over the top. They wore little more than rags that were shredded and pulled into mock garments over bodies. The cold had no affect on them either. A larger one was in the middle of the coming swarm, around his neck tied to piece of string was the bones of a human hand. He cried to the others in a hissing voice, urging them on.

They had seen the party enter the village while returning to continue the destruction. Already they had eaten the villagers they had taken but they hungered for whoever remained. But with fresh enemies, their blood was up and they wanted war. A chant of bloody thirsty hisses rose, "food, food, food, food!"

Already drawn were long knives, they were old but not yet too blunt to slash with. The creatures had other weapons of thick teeth and savage claws. Some had no knives and resorted to bounding ahead on all fours. The enemy kept pouring over the hill. The ones racing ahead found the road leading away from the village and charged with increased speed.

The creatures were a mixture of rat and man. As tall any any human with hands that could grasp easily and able to stand on two feet and run comfortably. Thick grey fur ran all over their bodies. Their face were more rat, with massive teeth that dripped saliva. Claws from each finger and each toe equally as large. A thick tail flapped behind.

~~~
~~~

Just when we need a commander of sorts, Zantas thought to himself. He rose his sword to a ready position.

“Well I think that solves some things. Lady I think it was those guys charging us,” he called to Lissandra. “Gideon you ready for battle?” He asked grimly before turning to the youngest member of the group beside him. “Just pick targets and fire, don't hesitate,” Zantas said simply and turned back the coming beings.

From his back came his small round shield. The enemy looked set to mob them after the initial wave and the shield might be useful then. Zantas checked his knife too, in case he lost his sword in the battle.

“Mage, I have no idea what you can do but just take as many out as possible.” He called to the wandering mage. The rest like him were close range fighters, “the rest of us …. form a line at the edge of the building there.” He pointed a few steps a head of himself at the end of the great hall before the road. He moved across the snow and stood in the centre of the yard.

At the last moment Zantas remembered to newcomer. “Healer, keep that man safe and alive. He may have knowledge for us later. And back sure none try and sneak around to our backs.”

[Crow]

Areneth looked up in shock as the rat-like humans came chanting 'food' as they approached the villiage. She shook for a bit before snapping into reality and the rock glowed in her pocket, causing her clothes to change back into the beachwear she wore at the entrance of the portal. She unhitched her bow from her back and grabbed three arows from her satchel, she then held the bow in front of her and pulled the string back with the three arrows in them. She shot the arrows out to the distant Rat-like people, The arrows exploded on impact as the three arrows landed onto one rat person. Thank God for her father's modifications on her arrows.

[Red Fox]

Raab came to the voice of the fighter, mainly to see what was going on.
As he came close enough, around the corner that was blocking his sight, he saw what was about to happen.
Towards them came severely overgrown rats?
Interesting, at least this explained the marks here and there, as well as the knives they were carrying.

Raab came standing beside this new self appointed leader, and let out a dry; Humph.
“What makes you think that you have the right to order me around? Do you really expect me to just stand here and do nothing while we are attacked?” It was a dry and overly annoying sentence.
The main reason for this was that he did not really like taking orders from someone that had not proven his worth to have such a position.
Naturally, this might change in time, but for now he did not really have the right to order Raab around; given that his orders were smart and he would follow them per se, he did not like taking orders.

Raab extended his hand to his side, as his amulet started to glow until it vanished; in his hand now were the spiral staff, a mage staff called on into the physical realm.
Raab let it rest on the cold ground beside him, awaiting his opponents to burn up energy to get closer.

[Lord Tully]

The man passed out from his injuries before he could answer any questions, and that was probably for the best as the rat-beasts were returning and Gideon doubted that he would want to see that. Gideon left the healer girl alone in the room with the hurt man and rushed out to meet Zantas. "Ready and willing, I will go draw their attention away from you guys and Olive in there. Once you get a chance to flank them I will need you to take it." After that he rushed out away from the other party members to the other side of the villiage. Once a safe distance away his started throwing rocks and nasty language at the hoard of monsters to get their attention, "Come on and get me! Come and work for you meat!" He shouted both shield and spear at the ready.

[Wattz]

“Wait, I have to what?” Her concentration was immediately broken when the orders were given. The flow of energy ceased so abruptly that her progress collapsed. Olive turned around only to see a wave of strange creatures coming up over the horizon. Their chants grew louder and louder the closer they became, and Olive’s eyes became wide from the shock.

“Holy hell, that’s… a lot of rats.” She wasn’t quite sure what else to say about the curious yet terrifying sight. She stalled before the orders finally kicked in, though her hands were trembling slightly from the nerves. Never before had she been thrown into such danger, nor had she ever worked under such high-tension conditions. Sitting there doing nothing but healing sounded almost more terrifying than actually attacking back, for she would be vulnerable during the process if she wanted to keep it up. Olive could almost feel the rats standing over her, crawling on her helpless form, gnawing at her flesh….

Perhaps blackmail truly would have been better than this.

[Mirage]

Lissandra gazed at the swarm approaching them with a grin that made those around her slightly nervous. Her hands on her broadsword were white-knuckled as she tried to hold the bloodfury off until it would be needed. She shrugged out of her pack, letting it settle into the snow beside the young healer and stepped forward, out of the building and into the crowd of her companions. Sweat trickled down her face and her eyes were wide and beginning to acquire the merciless fury. She had no thought but for her enemies.

[Crow]

Areneth nodded before firing some more arrows at the pack of rats. Some landed through their hearts and exploded then, causing guts and shrapnel to fly out to the rest of the pack of rats. She then pulled out 3 arrows with heads made of obsydian and shot them at the rats as well, causing the volcanic glass to shatter into the rat's heads.

[GraftRaven]

Krath had been wandering through the wrecked village until the group had caused a reasonable commotion near the center. He joined them, then spotted the pack of what seemed to be giant rats. Unfazed he pulled out both of his swords and began to speak quietly in an ancient tongue that nobody, with the possible exception of Raab, would understand. As the pack approached Krath's swords began to glow white-hot and steam in the cold, then all of a sudden Krath spun the swords and pointed them towards the oncoming beasts. A large fireball erupted from between the burning-hot blades and shot off towards the beasts, impacting on the right side of the group, incinerating three and leaving mild burns on three more.

The group as a whole did not slow down at all and those that had found the road were nearly upon them. Krath plunged both of his blades into the snow at his feet and leaned on them for support, having drained part of his energy. Then he put a hand to a large piece of fire-topaz on his belt and small flickers could be seen moving between his hand and the stone. He straightened up just in time to see one of the rat-beasts scrambling over a low roof and jumping at him, but it found a landing place on Krath's quickly raised sword. The creature slid off the blade and thumped to the ground, a still sizzling hole in its chest where its heart should have been.

Krath braced for a quick, frenzied battle, the first wave would hit, then the rest of the pack would fall upon them and their cohesiveness as a group would be tested for the first time.

[Red Fox]

The incoming rat infestation had used enough time to get close; a few of the others had already started attacking with various levels of success.
Raab’s initial suspicions were proven to be correct, this fighter with the strange feel to him, he was a spellsword, which both his magical language and the very clear visual effect of a large fireball sort of backed up.
The arrows fired struck true, and a few of the ratthings fell, and following was the large fireball which took out a part of the side it hit, not a bad move for an apparent melee fighter.

Grasping the spiral staff a little harder, Raab began to speak in his own dialect of the magical language that the spellsword used before.
As with any mage, though the language was somewhat the same, the dialect and accent different between them all, unless it was a master and student; as in those cases odds were that the dialect was the same.
As the few words came from Raab’s lips, strange deep green spears formed around him, hovering horizontal as if weightless.
A quick movement of the staff towards the rats, made the spears seemingly disappear, only to show their location extruding out of the rat’s bodies. The spears were long enough to be able to penetrate several of the rats at the same time, each of the four spears managing to take out at least two rats. Yet, the rats did not move from their initial path…. Were they really this stupid?

Trying to make an example, Raab decided to be a little extreme, just because he could.
Moving his staff before him, he trusted it into the ground just hard enough to male it let loose a metal against dirt sound, whereas two of the rat-men stopped in their tracks, as if they crashed against an invisible wall, the reason for this was simple enough; they did.
A second later it showed itself not only to be a wall, but to be a cube that formed around the two rat men, a dragging motion of the staff made the cube get smaller and smaller, the inside room following its example.
As the cube was small enough, it became perfectly clear that the rats were not going outside of it, and the cube was not stopping to get smaller, which in a second later turned out to be the plan.
The rats where crushed under the tremendous force of the contracting cube, blood streaming out from broken limbs and squiring out from the sudden crush of the remainder of the body.
For a second more, they were held like this inside the cube, until the green walls disappeared, letting the gore flow freely making the ground slick around where it was; forcing a few rats to slip and fall but get up fast enough.

And they were still coming, the fools, Raab aside there were plenty of dangers that stood here and waited for them, but Raab’s main mental question was; how long would it take before he had to start get defensive?
His defensive powers were plenty to protect the lot here for quite the while, but he would really prefer it not to come to this, it was straining after all.

[V]

Zantas ignored the mage, he didn't care if the man helped or not now.

Several of the first wave broke off the assault to attack the Dragoon; but most were held by their hunger and the larger group were more appealing. Zantas watched them slowly get closer and closer. One last look aver to the spear wielder the knight felt confident he could deal with the approaching enemy. Arrows passed him by and the scarred woman joined him ready to battle. Fire balls crashed into a group of the rats but they continued racing toward the group. Green spears pierced the enemy to the side skewering multiple. A cube squished two of the rats.

At least he doesn't hesitate, Zantas thought grimly.

Then the first wave was upon him, somehow he'd shed his pack without realising it and then Zantas attacked. Off a single step he stabbing a piercing strike into the rat which leapt into the blade. It let out a gurgle before spraying the ground with blood. But another was come quick. It lunged from a metre away, Zantas met it mid-flight crashing his round shield into its face. As Zantas took a step back absorbing the collision the rat rolled away to his side. Left arm ringing he withdrew his blade from the body of the first rat.

Stabbing the dizzied creature as it tried to rise Zantas looked up to see another coming at him. In it's clawed hand holding a clean short knife from one of the slain villagers. It stabbed air, the man slashing the legs from underneath. The knife fell away useless. Zantas slammed his sword into the rats back in case it tried to rise.

[Crow]

As the group of rats came closer, Areneth detatched her bow to turn them into two blades, spinning them in her hands as she ran up to one of the rats and ran up it's chest before flipping in mid-air and decappitating it in one-fell swoop. She then high-kicked another into the jugular, it fell onto the ground as she jumped atop it and snapped it's neck with her knees. Two others approached her as she flipped her blades around and stabbed them in the genitals and sliced upwards.

She hoped after this that the others realized why she wore so little clothing, it was for maximum agility and movement.

[Mirage]

Lissandra let out a furious roar and charged into the fray, her broadsword drawn. The first few of the rats she remembered, the heads falling down behind her as they flew from the rats' bodies, and then the bloodrage took her. Red hazed over her eyes and she spun and stabbed and speared the squealing creatures on her sword. They fell beneath her and the others began to see her fury and to scurry away from it. She was only barely aware of the other fighters, the useless archer who was not so useless and the mage who blasted into the swarm.

[V]

After slaying more of the enemy, a lull came over Zantas for several moments. The scarred woman was slaughtering the enemy seeing them as nothing. It took him several moments before working out that the archer had joined into attacking with twin blades. Zantas would have to get the pairs names later. He tried to spot Gideon again after the distraction but his eyes were brought back to the enemy.

The main force was coming now, reaching the outskirts of the village. A few stragglers from the first wave continued. Inside the main force the largest hissed commands in a foreign language. The others cheered and began rushing more quickly waving knifes in the air.

Zantas sliced through another rat, cleaving the creatures arms off as it bounded past. Watching the larger force he continued the bloody massacre with his long sword.

[Wattz]

For the moment, Olive had been far too distracted watching the group fight. She turned away suddenly though, as she saw the little scantily-clad lady stabbing the poor rats in their prized regions, slicing them in half. The brutish woman was in her own brutal daze, massacring everything in sight, and Zantas was meticulous but still messy with his killings. She found her hands shaking as she turned back towards the unconscious man, trying hard to concentrate over the ruckus of bloodshed.

Her focus was on the man’s leg, pulling the energy once again to maintain his life force and minimize the pain. But the rats only closed in further, and she could hear them getting closer to her location.

Suddenly, she heard a low growl, looking up and gasping. One of the creatures had managed to go astray from the group, sneaking behind and going for the easier prey. Olive dropped her hands away from the man and grasped her staff. The rat seemed to smile at her, its yellow teeth mangled in its pointed jaw. Olive could see saliva dripping from its chin, and its breath shown hot and steamy in the cold, snowy air. It taunted her, circled around, squeaked and growled....

Then it lunged.

Olive quickly flicked the hidden blade out of the end of her staff. It jumped over the injured man to get to her, but she managed to quickly ram the blade into one of its beady eyes, making it squeal in pain and recoil.

[GraftRaven]

Having cut down several more rats Krath drifted across the battleground, unknowingly moving closer to Olive. He saw her stab the one creature in the eye socket, probably not enough to kill it outright. He began a sprint towards the creature, swinging twice at other creatures with his swords and leaving the blades in their still dying bodies, then grappling the one that had attacked Olive, forcing it to the ground, and forcing a dagger down its throat.

Without a word he collected the dagger, and then his other blades, during the lull between the initial wave and the main force. Krath's blades once again glowed red hot and easily sliced through the forerunners of the main force, spilling blood which began to boil from the heat. Then he was tackled by a larger creature while dealing with a couple smaller ones, it grasped at his throat and made as if to bate his face. However, before it could Krath exhaled and shot a tongue of flame down the beast's throat, causing the thing to burn from the inside out while Krath recovered, lazily blasting small beasts aside with sword or magic.

[Mirage]

For a moment, Lissandra found herself in a circle of calm on the battlefield. The bloodrage fell back some to let her see what was happening around her. The others were locked in combat, even the healer woman. The useless little archer was doing very well for herself and Lissandra grudgingly allowed her some respect. However, her meditations were cut short as three rats charged her, their weapons raised high. She lost the time to think as the bloodrage once more descended and she spun at them, gutting all three in one swift move.

[Red Fox]

Raab looked around himself, though the battle had not lasted for that long, and though it had spread to a semi large location; the group seemed to be able to take care of themselves.
Even the healer, though seeming to prefer the absence of a fighter, had managed to stab one in the eye which might turn out fatal depending on how deep it was.
Some used brute force alongside their own art, whereas some were more dexterous and made it look like a dance, a dance back dropped by death.

Having to duck to barely escape a brute force knife attack, Raab muttered a magical word as he grasped his staff better, where on a deep green transparent blade grew out of the top where the gems were housed.
With this addition the staff looked more like Guan Do; a spear with a sword like blade on its end. An elegant spin around ended with Raab standing crouched and the staff in his right hand; its blade having a small stream of blood. The creature that attacked him fell to its side, its chest opened to the world to see. This was a good thing when Raab conjured a bladed weapon, a molecular edge was far sharper than any man-sharpened blade could ever get, which compensated for his lack of melee worthy strength.

Looking around one more time, he realized that odds were that he could most likely end this battle with one move, but it would require a lot, most in fact, of his remaining energy and he would be dead tired for quite the time, not to mention virtually useless. And this was too much of a hassle.
Since the lot seemed to have most under control, Raab just stood there, taking care of the odd straggler. If there were a possibility of him taking it slow and relaxing, he would take it for as long as it lasted.

[V]

The company had taken out a large amount of the Rat-Men before the leader of the enemy arrived into the main action. Near the cabin housing the injured villager and Olive he joined the battle emerging over the robed Krath with his cleaving blades in claws. He swung a commanding strike.

Gideon's ploy at being a distraction had proven unsuccessful; the overwhelming numbers of the creatures proved troublesome. With the main force being handled by the main group wave after wave assaulted the dragoon. Despite the rats continuous falling to Gideon's spear, their numbers never seemed to cease attacking. Eventually the attack became to much, the rats rushing too quickly... the dragoon was drowning in the enemy.

And Xaul, the assassin was no where to be seen.

Zantas was amongst them now; his long sword no longer shined steel instead painted red. He'd lost sight of everyone else when the main force of the rats hit. With the minutes of frenzy cuts and scrapes marked the knights arms, none were however life threatening. Constant battle was beginning to wear.

Wielding two-handed he held the rats at bay from all angles, stabbing and swiping. Bloody bodies, and those still dying lay all around the icy courtyard.

[Mirage]

Another moment came and Lissandra pushed back the rage and examined the battlefield. She saw that one of the men was getting a bit overwhelmed and smiled in a way that would have made people a little uncomfortable and charged towards the group, her sword raised and with an almighty yell. She lay about her with great strokes, severing heads, arms, legs, and torsos with gusto.

[GraftRaven]

Krath ducked under two massive blade strokes, then rolled backwards and vaulted with his arms, arching through the air and landing on his feet a few yards away. His landing was slightly off and his left knee buckled and he ended up kneeling in the snow, his head snapped up and he stared at the huge leader until a small group broke away and attacked him. They were finished in seconds, each with a smoking hole in their chest, the evidence of Krath's blades. "Their numbers are dwindling, press harder!"

His voice could be heard over the din, roaring with the fire that he controlled. Again he put his hand on the gem at his belt and there seemed to be a glow between his hand and the topaz, but he was interrupted by a powerful strike to his side that knocked him into a small snowbank on the side of the street they were on. He took a moment to collect himself, he had barely managed to hold on to his precious pieces of steel, then he noticed a slow seeping of warm liquid from his side, the snow on his right was beginning to turn crimson.

[Sickly]

Sleeping was possibly one the few things alex enjoyed these days and a horde rat-men can very likely destroy any peace he loved so much. Alex never had dreams so sleeping was like death, a release from the life he grew to hate so much. Alex decided to explore the portal before the king would organize a group to go through it and he had come across the destroyed village several hours earlier than the main group. There he slept...until now when the ear split cries of Rat-men hung in the air. Alex's eye flew open and rage coursed through his veins nowadays almost anything set alex off but normally he could control it, but now bloodthirsty monsters got no pity from him.

His eye's were bloodshot as a pianful burst in his eyes destroyed a blood vessel and turned his eyes red adrenaline in his body had already made itself into each vein in his body and despite the cold his body was sweaty and giving off plenty of natural heat. The first of the rat-men could probrably smeel his sweat before they could see him but it really didn't matter when a single stroke of his massive berserking blade could take out several rat men at a time. With each stroke of the massive sword Alex cleaved through 2 or 3 rat-men cutting them from neck to navel and everything inbetween. Through his bloodied vision Alex spotted the rats overwhelming a lancer and took action immediattely shifting the large sword into his left hand and unsheathing his one handed longsword. With a burst of incredible strength Alex swung his Buster Blade to the side forcing his body into spin deftly switching his heet at each 180 degree to keep the spin going flawlessly. Leaning slightly into the spin Alex began to slowly guide his nigh unstoppable spin towards the leader of the Rat-men. In the meantime bits and piec es of the monsters were torn or sliced off if they came to close.

[Wattz]

Olive was so preoccupied with keeping the man alive by this point that she could hardly recognize that there was fighting going on around her. After stabbing that rat in the eye, she seemed to withdraw into a strange sort of mindset, where she was too afraid to recognize all the bloodshed, so she retreated into the healing process utterly and totally. Ironically, she was most vulnerable in this state, but it was infinitely easier to be blissfully ignorant of one’s surroundings, and it was infinitely easier to concentrate on the task this way. She didn’t even notice the blood-thirsty newcomer emerge. He was even so violent that sprays of blood from his slicing splashed onto Olive’s sitting form.

[V]

Zantas saw the giant rat swipe into the robed spell sword. He grunted fighting a pair of the smaller kind - they seemed more intelligent than the others he'd battled. Attacking in joint movements giving little opportunity for offense, the knight darted back a step avoiding another swipe. Barely he got his sword up in time to block the other rats knife. Audaciously the second rat followed through with a lung trying to swat away the long sword.

Its face sliced into the bladed edge but momentum didn't stop and the rat slashed into the knights chest. Tattered armor caught most of the blow but claws scratched Zantas' chest before he could boot away the creature. It rolled blood gushing form the head wound and tried to rise itself before failing. Its partner caught the knight off guard.

Knife was forgotten for teeth ripping into Zantas' shoulder. He yelled something through the pain as he tried to dislodge with one arm. He lost his sword and the pair were falling to the body filled snow. The rat was scratching and clinging on with his teeth. The creatures tail wrapped around one of his legs. Zantas rolled and tried thrashing if off him but it held tight. One of his arms held the rat's snout trying to pull it free - Zantas gave up and starting boxing the things face whilst trying to find a weapon in the snow and blood.

The rat bit harder trying to crush bone but it relented the bite after Zantas yelled his pain and smashed a knife he'd found into its head.

Shaking he rose from the snow retrieving his sword. No other rats had attacked him. He saw why, a man was rushing through rat after rat - a berserker. He had their attentions for now, even the large leader turned and began to shove the others from his path to face him straight on.

Around the hut Zantas saw several rats turn to an easier target, the healer. He swore and stumbled over the battle field to help her before she was skewered. He couldn't see the archer or the berserker woman but magic spears still appeared every now and then.

At least some of them were still alive.

[GraftRaven]

Krath rose from the snow, the darkness beneath his hood not showing the pain he felt as he ran a finger over the gash in his side, using heat to seal the wound shut. As he looked around he saw the large leader-rat lumbering off towards a newcomer and started barreling towards the beast, determined to kill it himself. As he ran Krath flipped over a rat that had turned to charge him and ran it through from behind, a second rat turned and was speared through the chest with Krath's other sword. As he continued his mad dash to the large one Krath pulled both of his daggers from his belt and vaulted over several small rats, managing to catch his left hand dagger on the huge beast's left shoulder.

Krath pulled himself up and jammed his remaining dagger into the beast's other shoulder and it collapsed to the side, crushing two smaller creatures beneath it. However, a moment later the ting got back up and stated thrashing about in an attempt to shake off its unwanted load. Krath was nearly forced to let go, but ferociously renewed his knives' grip on its shoulders by withdrawing the blades and plunging them into fresh areas, but the beast refused to die. "Somebody finish him!" Were the only words he could muster while being tossed about on the creature's back, which was now slick with blood.

[Wattz]

Olive was still in her completely immersed state, the energy flowing between the two. Yet despite this, it seemed as if his life force was beginning to wane, trickling away like sands in an hourglass. She had to wonder to herself why it seemed so important to keep the man alive, why she felt desperate to keep him in this world. Olive had let people slip before, easily and without much guilt to linger in her conscience. Though there was more danger in this situation, and though she had never been in the midst of something so massive, her character had changed little.

But now, it felt as if something were taking over her mind, though not on purpose. She found herself suddenly cognizant of the dueling force against her. It was the dying man’s own thoughts. His desire to live was so strong, so intense, that he subconsciously clung to Olive’s, harming himself and potentially her by pulling on the healing powers.

So she let herself go.

It was a physical jerk, and Olive fell back, the clang of weapons and squeaking screaming in her ears all at once. She brought her hands to her ears in a desperate attempt to block it all out, but something dug into her shoulder, letting out a cry of pain. One of the rat men had managed to claw at her back. She yanked forward as hard as she could to shake him off, all while fumbling for the staff. The weight of the monster was too great for her to stand, and she desperately thumped it on the head, unable to sort her thoughts out quick enough to find the bladed end of her weapon before it clamped its teeth on her other shoulder.

Olive could hardly think above the cloud of pain, but somehow the blade ended up in the monster’s hand.

It recoiled long enough for her to fling forward and stand, panting with her eyes wide in shock. She was shaking all over and the blood was spreading rapidly through her clothing. It lunged again, and with a yell she thrust forward and sliced its stomach open. Crimson flowed from its mouth as it collapsed forward, landing in a pile of its own intestines.

[Sickly]

Alex stopped spinning as his blurred senses cleared and his In his wake a clear path formed...well at least it was clear in the sense that nothing behind him was left alive. Alex slammed his Buster sword into ground unable to lift it but kept his other sword unsheathed doing his best to hold the rat-men at bay.

His last attack nearly drained him of his power and it would be a few minutes before he could go all out again. Alex guessed it was out of fear that he may go into another rage that kept the rats away but it wouldn't be to long til it made it into their tiny brains that he was tired and in no way able to properly defend him self. Still he made swipe at any that came near managing to deliver a few but unfortunately non-lethal strikes...

[V]

Using his long sword in one hand, his other was struggling to grasp and was limp, Zantas slashed on of the enemy from behind. Another turned but the knight was already swipe it out of his path.

The healer had already dealt with one but several more were beginning to sneak up. THe knight lunged in front of the door way to hold them at bay. "Could you try to keep him alive?" He meant the dying villager.

They were crowding around him... a flare appeared and spears made of the same green magic pierced through the enemy that surrounded the mage. But several more kept coming.

Zantas grunted, "they just keep coming don't they...."

"Someone finish him!"

Zantas saw the robed one clinging desperately to the enemy generals back. Zantas grunted and slashed away the last rat attacking the hut. "Alive..." he said again before running to help the man.