The Lands of Galderia

Asha frowned as Jor made his comment.

"I don't appreciate that sentiment, dwarf. I've seen too many people die because they've underestimated their opponents. If you don't take your fights seriously, you will die. A stray arrow, a little poison, a slight misstep - sometimes, that's all it takes. When you fight, you give it your all. Maybe it doesn't mean anything to you, but it means a world of difference to me." She drew her sword as they neared their setup zone, two of the insignia faintly glowing. "I'm not allowed to die. Not yet."

"Aright hold it." Bliston cut off the swords woman before she and the dwarf could start anything. "Now while I see what you mean I trust our third set of wheels there to know when to charge in, instead of having to follow everything I've said like mindless drones." He turned towards Iator and lana. "Having said that there is a reason why I have certain magic users set up in our teams. The Vasqueran's fire abilities are better suited to the distraction group both because their immediately noticeable and because they can help towards pushing the thugs into a panic right from the start, which we'll need to do to keep them divided and unfocused."

He looked at Iator specifically. "Much as your suggestion is appreciated gnome, subtlety is exactly what our team doesn't need." In fact if Bliston knew that his magic was geared that way he would have insisted he join the insertion team to aid in their attempts to move in undetected. However they had wasted enough time talking over this as it is, and standing around talking this close to the camp and this close to the start of the fighting was very aggravating to the daemon. "I won't tell you how to fight, but you're abilities might be better suited towards general crowd control once things start taking off and the brawl gets going in full."

He turned and started walking. "Now unless anyone else has any objections, I want to get this choir over and done with before sun down."

Randionalia

Randi listened to the battle strategy that was to take place. She nodded and watched carefully the positions that her team will be taking. When it seemed the plan was set, the swordswoman spoke up making new suggestions to the plan. Randi can value input but she didn't see much reason to change the teams now, they're pretty solid tactical wise they way they are proceeding. It seems the others weren't so receptive to the new alterations. The Gravedigger decided to strike off where he was suppose to be heading it seems, and soon to be followed by the Dwarf. Yet, the Dwarf's words didn't exactly sit well with the swordswoman and it seem an argument could be looming. Something that the assassin was not wishing to deal with.

Bliston interjected before the would-be argument gained any steam. He defended his decisions and Randi agreed to them. Even going as far as to concur with the half-daemon. She wants this little side venture over and done with before too long, considering she advised against doing this. It would be best to stick to the plan they have already took the time to devise and execute. She can't afford to wait this out any longer. "No objections." Randi responded to Bliston. "I am prepared to take my team now, and we will wait for you to draw out these vermin so we can do our part." Randi plainly spoke. She then turned to break off from the group, "For those of you in Team A, follow me, quickly and quietly," Randi spoke as she fleet footed away from the group, "oh and keep your bodies low, to better avoid detection by any scouts that may be around." She spoke over her shoulder.

Taethion

Taethion nodded and listened to the plan. He noted his job in the plan and would stay with the armored group. They would be drawing the first assault and would be a good place to keep an eye on people's health. The only thing he worried about was Bliston. His heritage could prove detrimental to his task, as holy magic harms those of demonic lineage. Yet the warrior is big, armored, sturdy, and powerful, surely he would be the last to fall in battle. That just leaves Iator, the girl, and Asha to keep an eye on. Despite the slight resistance to the plan, it would seem people were breaking off into their groups. Taethion looked towards those on his team. "I am prepared to distract and defend those I can." Taethion spoke as he looked towards Bliston, "I shall follow your lead." He spoke.

Edging near the camp as everyone else got into position, Lana cracked her knuckles and took in a slow, deep breath, making a sure and steady advance as its structures became clearer and clearer. Let's make this nice and noticeable. She pushed one foot back across the dirt and curled both of her hands into fists, raised up at both sides of her body. She slowly relaxed and lowered her arms, facing her palm upwards in a deliberate motion until they were at her waist. After a few seconds of stillness, she exhaled and brought her hands upward as though she were lifting something incredibly heavy over her head. Several cracks webbed in different spots on the ground, glowing hot with magma as embers sparked out from the fissures. In the next moment, those cracks erupted, launching massive pillars of fire into the sky - she focused on height instead of width so while they were somewhat thin, the columns reached high up, taller than the trees so that everyone in the camp could see. She held the position for a few more seconds, letting the fires rise up for a little longer before instantly switching gears and entering her previous stance. A swirling torrent of fire spiraled inside of her palm, growing brighter and brighter until finally there was a white glint and she launched it forward like an arrow. Although the projectile appeared innocuous enough at first glance, she'd given it enough power to store a tremendous amount of energy inside. She aimed directly for one of the watchtowers, the missile exploding on contact - the flame set the structure ablaze and the pressure of the blast knocked the bandit guard out of his tower, both setting him on fire and sending him falling to his death for a certain kill. Her arms reversed motions and now a second fireball was gathering energy in her other hand, aiming to hit the second tower. She grinned slightly, her eyes narrowing. Come on you bastards, we're right here. The smoke from the craters the pillars had created continued to billow upwards, signaling to the enemy exactly where they were. Her eyes shifted over to the general locations of where the distraction team forces were setting up. You're in for a nasty surprise. Lana launched the second fireball.

Pravus & Jor

Jor kept a steady hand on his axe as he began looping around the camp with Pravus. It was fairly quiet except for animal noises and the occasional crunch of Jor's footsteps. Damn trees. Even their leavings cause me problems. He thought to himself. Ye could hae been back in Dolgrim where thar be nothin but good solid stone and the occasional mushroom. But nae, ye screwed it up and to top it off ye took us with ye. We doubt that any of us will ever see th great magma rivers or stone structures of our home again because o' ye. He heard the Kuld speak to him. He just grunted, used to the grudging words of the axe.

Pravus stood waiting solemnly behind the cover of brush while the dwarf trudged his way up into position. As he stood, his cloak swaying with the breeze, he overheard an unfamiliar voice. He looked over to see the dwarf but his axe was glowing in that familiar spectral manner, the fashion of which only the spirits of the dead go about with. Even though they spoke dwarven he understood the meaning of the words as though he spoke the language just fine even though he didn't know how to speak dwarven. Their words made their point clear, he understood the feeling of being taken somewhere he didn't want to go, being whisked away from home on some strange venture in the land of the living while he had assumed everything had died. After the axe finished speaking he finally decided it was the appropriate time. "I understand that feeling. Being taken away from home and forced to wander some strange land, dragged along on some quest given to you by complete foreigners. I do not know how you were abducted but you have my condolences." He spoke, not to the dwarf but to his axe. It didn't matter to him whether the dwarf understood what he said or why, his allegiance was not to the living but with the dead. Their concerns mattered, the dwarf's concerns did not. What more was that he was speaking not the basic language of the humans of this land but rather fluent dwarven. How strange. This amulet seems to not be limited to just one language. I wonder where its limits lie?

Jor gaped as the man began to speak his native language. This kind of intelligent human was rare indeed. He looked at him a moment before speaking. He spoke in dwarven, "I appreciate the sentiment but I wasn't abducted. I left of my own accord. As for this quest, it will be worth it to fight the dragon."

Pravus let a period of silence pass. When it was clear the axe wasn't going to respond he spoke once more, still speaking in fluent dwarven which still had a bit of his Tiathan accent in it. "I was not addressing you. I address the venerable fallen accompanying you, evidently not of their own volition." He responded to the dwarf this time. He wasn't going to nag the axe into talking if it did not wish to speak with him. He knew all too well what it is like to not appreciate being disturbed.

Jor was surprised that the man noticed the axe had his ancestors in it. He scowled at the perceived insult both to him and the insult inherent in speaking directly to the venerable ancestors. However, before he could respond, the axe spoke. An interestin creature is this. Ye not be mortal, not by our reckonin. How did ye notice our presence and how do ye speak with us?

Pravus stood most formally, his head bowed in respect to the dead who addressed him. "In my culture I am what my people refer to as a medium. I was born with the gift to speak and touch the spirits as though they were tangible like myself. In regards to my mortality you are most observant. I, like yourselves, am only loosely connected with this world now." He answered their query, still in dwarven, speaking only with utmost respect for the spirits who addressed him. He of course came up with a question of his own, one he hoped they would not take offense to him asking. "Venerable spirits of times past, I humbly ask you a question if I may. How long has time gone by since Tiatha fell?" He asked. He did not know just how long he had been dead for. It could of been a day, it could of been a thousand years. All he knew was that in all his time he had never known of this place he was in which seemed strange. Almost anything even remotely familiar was absent. He did not know what happened but he hoped they would reciprocate.

Jor felt strange, being an outsider in a conversation that felt like it was being held halfway between his own mind and the outside world. Another spirit bound to an object? The Kuld asked, Or an undead of some sort? The Kuld's 'voice,' as it were, treated the word undead as if it tasted like vomit to say. It got strangely quiet and its spiritual 'light' grew dim for a moment. Either way, th' human country o' Tiathia hasn't been heard from in o'er a millenia. The 'light' returned. If ye be from there, yer likely th' last o' yer kind.

The words of the spirits hit hard. The first thing to strike him was the sheer amount of time which had past since he died. Such a staggering amount of time had passed and though back in Tiatha everything looked faded but nothing resembling a millennia's worth of decay would resemble the details of this new world started to make more sense. This land, the technology and the magic, all of it made sense now. In the time that past it seemed that the wonders of the age were lost and now all that was left were hollow semblances to a bygone empire. The second words to impact him, harder than the first, was the reminder that he was the last one. Those words caused him to remember those moments when he sat back against the withered tree, his body riddled with black bulges all oozing puss, simply looking out into the sunset. There was no sound save for the wind blowing through the skeletal branches of the tree which had stood atop that hill since he was born. No people talking, no children playing, no animals, not even the chirp or buzz of insects could be heard. He was the unluckiest one of them all, the one who had to undertake the burden of bearing witness to the death of life, or at least so he had thought. Seeing this land he knew now that he was mistaken but nothing could anesthetize the pain which he had felt that day, both physically and mentally. Standing silent for a moment as their words sunk deep he spoke once more, his words still respectful but colder, more hollow. "I was the last, that much was certain. I am also the only one to have retained my mind after the illness blossomed from our corpses. I am most unfortunately reanimated as a result of necromantic magic gone unchecked. I am not the only one either. The land is not well and to this day there is still something keeping it from resting."
He paused for a brief period. "I am Pravus the Grave Tender, the last of my family lineage of Graver Tenders. I see to it that all spirit's needs are attended to so they may seek their peace in the afterlife." He finally introduced himself properly for the first time since he arrived on this new fertile earth. Regardless of how the spirits would respond to him in his current state, he stood firm, his sense of duty reigning supreme over all other emotions which had tried to cloud his judgement.

The Kuld seemed to be quiet after his affirmation that he was undead. Jor just stood by listening impatiently and wishing for battle to ease his boredom. It be unfair to blame ye for other's misuse o' magic. But tha' nae be makin' you less anathema. The axe remained silent for a long moment. We are Th' Kuld. The great ancestors of the Kuldmorndin Clan, taken so very far from home though we be. Yer curse aside, 'twas nice to speak to someone who wasn't banished from th' dwarves and sent ta death in this cursed land o' sun and trees.
Jor looke angrily at the axe but did not speak to it. The Kuld had the right to speak as it wished and he still held great respect for his ancestors. He wondered if he'd have to kill this, Pravus, instead. He might have to, in order to keep his secrets.

Pravus understood the cause for such animosity towards those in his predicament. He had seen the effects of necromancers while he served in the thirteenth legion. Many varieties of magi were employed to their troop, their various expertise used for both utility and to bring death to their enemies. To other races less accustomed to working alongside such corrupt casters he could understand their sentiment. The horrors that war brought were just short of the twisted dystopian nightmare that was the lands of Tiatha, present day. "I understand. I must bear this burden until I have honored my family and finished my duty."
He listened with great attention as the spirits of the axe introduced themselves. Though the secrets of their dwarf abductor were revealed he put that to memory but was mostly interested in the interests of the spirits themselves. "It has been an honor to meet you all. Should you desire anything I shall undertake your requests. All that need be done is to simply make me aware of said desires. Until then I shall go and ensure the dead are not wronged." He concluded his half of the conversation. He saw the fires in the distance indicating that combat had ensued already. Knowing he was likely going to be dragged into this situation he was going to have to continue speaking with this most interesting artifact at another time of it's choosing. He simply turned, not too soon in case the axe was not finished with him, and analyzed the situation at the bandit camp.

Jor looked out at the fires that were drawing the bandits impatiently but waited until he was sure that his axe was finished talking so he could talk to the gravetender. "Listen to me, Pravus." He said, slowly. "If you don't want any dead," here he pointed at Pravus, "To be 'wronged' by this particular living being, you will not tell anyone about my banishment or about the Kuld." He stamped the axe on the ground. "Do you understand me?"

Pravus noticed the belligerent dwarf talking after his axe had gone silent. He simply looked back down, staring into the dwarf's eyes through the armored glass lenses in his mask, his own eyes concealed in it's darkness. "I am neither afraid of your threats nor concerned with your past. Do not speak of my true nature as well as my ability to communicate with the races of this land to anyone else and I will not speak of your history to anyone." He was no longer speaking dwarven but was speaking fluent Londean, again with a bit of an accent native to his homeland. With that said he gave the dwarf no opportunity to reply as he simply stepped forward. As the bandits were being drawn out he was going to come in behind them but his reasons were different. He didn't care about the operation though he did want to see the group he was apparently working for currently to win as he wasn't looking forward to having to finish off the remaining bandits should they win. What he wanted however was the equipment some of the bandits had stolen. He noticed among their arsenal were spears as well as a number of shields, both of which he was in need of. His shovel was superior to all these people's tools and weapons in terms of durability and effectiveness but it was still a shovel. It's head made for good chops and somewhat decent thrusts but it's design was not to kill living creatures but to excavate earth. Even these crude spears of lesser metal quality still served their purpose better in that their heads were narrower and more pointed, better for finding gaps in armor and piercing through.
Shields were also useful for a number of reasons and even though his main style of combat was the two handed spear he was quite proficient in wielding a spear in one hand and a shield in the other. Without a shield man to stand in front of him and deflect blows while he stabbed his opponents he needed the defense more than he needed the sheer killing potential he was able to bring using his favored style. Another good thing about the weapons they wielded were that should they ever break it would be far easier to repair them than it would be to fix his shovel should anything exceptional happen and cause damage to it. Without the highly advanced terramancy forges or perhaps a dwarven forge of high quality the shovel would be irreparable, a loss he could not allow. With his goals in mind he slowly made his way behind the tents, keeping a close eye on the various bandit's positions in case any of them were to notice him and turn around to engage him instead of the distraction team.

Jor's anger was paused by his confusion at the fact that Pravus didn't want anyone to know he could talk. Regardless, it seemed like a fairly even trade and Jor would have said so if the monster had not run off down to the bandit camp. Not being one for sneaking, Jor was forced to let him go. He instead waited for the right moment to flank the bandits and hoped that the gravetender wouldn't cause them any trouble because of his actions.

You might wonder at the question of how an eight and a half foot tall man in full plate armor manages to sneak through the woods to avid detection. Bliston would answer years of practice. However in layman's terms that meant he was the one moving the slowest out of the team, bringing up the rear, and being forced to walk in a very uncomfortable squatting stance the whole trip. It was something he groused to himself in irritation about, after all a unit can only move as fast as it's slowest member and it meant that he was having to let the rest of the team trudge a good distance ahead of him to avoid that fact. This would become a relevant problem in a few minutes.

Before that fact could became apparent however, the first of a pair of wooden platforms serving as look out post came into view. This gave the horned man pause. He knew the bandits had set up some time after the dragon attack, but he didn't believe that would have given them enough time to set up some form of fortifications, meager as they we're. None the less it was too late to rethink the plan now, so he gave a few whispered signals for the other members in the team to get into position and made himself content to just work around it.

He took a location just a fair bit behind the paladin, behind a large old growth tree just large enough to hid Bliston's bulk. The stench of holy magic still hung in the air around the holy warrior, but the daemon held back from making any dirty looks under his helmet at him. He had already shelved away his disdain for working with a zealot. "Alright," he said quietly as he scanned the perimeter of the camp. "We'll have the Vasqueran launch the first barrage there to wake them up and soften their outer line. As soon as it hits we count to three then you and I will-"

He immediately cut himself off when he felt a huge swell of heat emanate somewhere to his right. "Not yet!" He barked. But the Vasqueran girl apparently couldn't hear him over the sound of swelling flames that spouted into the sky, and by the point it was already too late anyway. The first ball of fire struck one of the platform 'watch towers', destroying it in a spectacular explosion of fire and force and eliciting a groan of frustration from the horned man. His palm fell away from where it had been pressed against his faceplate, placed there only half out of exasperation and half to shield his eyes from the flash, just in time to watch the aftermath of the second platform detonating.

"Alright, screw a coordinated assault." He grumbled, completely forgoing quieted conversation. "We're winging it from here." And like That he was up and moving. His massive armored boots thumped and clanged loudly against the super heated dirt as he ran towards and then through the molten craters left behind by the fire pillars the Vasqueran brat created. Emerging from the other side wreathed in smoke and cinders, the daemon raised his warclub over his head in one hand and let out a deep guttural roar as both challenge and intimidation.

It was all about presentation now, to convince the bandit trash that they were under attack by abominations from the abyss or some other dark foulness that strung up their superstitious sides. Anything to get them to sit up and collectively s*** themselves as they took their focus on him and his team. He waited as the next fire blast from the girl raged past him before uttering another loud bellow and readied himself for what the response too this would be. For better or worse the 'operation' had begun.

Selena looked over to the burning pillar's direction. "Huh? So they've come huh?" The leader of the bandits said with no anxiety. Within moment a fireball came flying out from the pillar's direction and set the watch tower ablaze killing one of his subordinate. The others started cowering. "What are you waiting for you imbeciles! Kill them!" He shouted at them, they stopped cowering and charged toward the forest. "Wait. It's a trap." Selena said still as calm as before. "Then you go too. Half of you! Come back and look out for the enemies!" He called them, having half to stay and guard the camp. Staying on high alert, and some watched the others charge forward the forest.

A beastly roar was heard from the forest. Causing the bandits to stop on their track for a moment. Looking toward the direction of the roar. They were starting to feel uneasy, they were afraid of what is it that they will find if they continue forward. Their leader roared at them aswell, forcing them to stop cowering and move forward, fearing what he will do to them if they back out. Bliston was already seen from distance away. His demonic appearance and towering height causes some to cower in fear and some other to charge blindly as fear clouded their judgement, still... some managed to stay calm in this situation, treading carefully, probably more skilled than the others. Most of them failed to notice the others around him as Bliston has a huge presence.

Following her client's order. Selena run forward at great speed and immediately taking notice of the group, she evaluated their abilities, the huge armored man was probably that Bliston Ascor, working in the same field, it is impossible that she doesn't know him. The little girl seemed to be the one who casted the fireball and appears to be equally dangerous as Bliston. There is also a paladin, a gnome, and a swordswoman. She throw knives at them without pause and drew her daggers out. Aiming for the swordswoman's neck for a possible quick kill and if not, she will have to fight her as she is the best match for her. Selena prefers to fight those who have less armor, and the mages always holds an unknown factor.

Day 3

(Yes, I moved the group into position. NOTHING REGRETTED.)

Just as Sylphine and the rest of her group arrived at the top of the cliff, she was greeted by a flash of orange light. Lowering her arm which she had used to shield her eyes, the girl realized the sources of that light were raging fires. So it's begun already, huh...that's odd, we only just got here. Guess some people weren't patient enough. Still, seeing the daemon come out of the flames like that...quite a sight. Must major in theatrics, she thought jokingly.

Aesthetics aside, Pirika interrupted, it doesn't look like the plan entirely worked. They left some of their numbers in reserve. Sure enough, half of the bandits--around 20 or so?--were still standing around, brandishing their weapons while looking forward at the battle. It's not likely we can free the hostages while they're standing so closely nearby. Currently, the bird familiar was watching from a tree at the edge of the camp, a little bit past the towers which had just been burned down.

Then I hope our reserve group knows what they're doing, Sylphine mused grimly. They sure were being awfully quiet right now...Well, I think that's all we need for scouting. If you want to sit this out, I'll let you.

Oh good, you finally give me a break. I'll step in if you really need me, though.

Smiling and knowing she could rely on her familiar, Sylphine turned to the rest of her group. "Okay then, guys, if things start getting too bad, I'll try to divert all the attention upon myself. They won't get me so easily while I'm flying, so you can finish off the bandits or rescue the hostages while they're paying attention to me harassing them with wind. Got it?"

For now, though, there wasn't much to do but lay low...

Lana swiftly side-stepped the knives and launched another fireball in the same motion, spinning to her left as molten embers trailed from her left and blasted outwards toward the bandit camp. She considered assisting the paladin, but she figured he could handle himself well enough and continued her assault. Hm, it doesn't seem like we're drawing everyone out, she noted, taking notice of the numbers that were pouring out to confront them. Looks like I need to give these scum a wake up call. She pulled her arm back and broadened her stance, increasing the energy output of the next spell. A maelstrom of fire raged like a small storm in her palm, her entire vicinity afflicted with a destructive heat wave just from the ambient heat it was giving off. Normally she wouldn't be able to cast a spell like this, but everyone was keeping the bandits busy so she had enough time to charge it up. She pulled her entire body forward, pushing the flames outward with immense force. The resounding shockwave rattled the nearby trees and set the ground ablaze around her, the subsonic missile arcing rapidly over the edge and landing straight in the center of the encampment where some of the reserves were standing by, exploding violently like a massive bomb, taking out anything in a five meter radius.

Just as she completed the maneuver, three of the other bandits rushed up toward her, brandishing axes and swords. Lana calmly stepped backwards as she unleashed a stream of flame outward from her hands, devouring one of them in a wide flamethrower spray that roasted him to cinders. The other two were smart and fast enough to go around to her sides, flanking her. Instead of letting them close in on her, she rushed in toward the nearest one, ducking under the axe swing and delivering a piercing punch to his gut, destroying his organs and shattering his spine as her bloody fist emerged out from his back. She grabbed his entrails and tore them out of his body, kicking him away. She let the organs fall from her hand and glared at the other bandit, a wicked glint in her eyes. He hesitated for a moment, suddenly fearing for his life more than anything else. In the next second, he was completely destroyed by a pillar of flame that had been charging up from beneath him without realizing it. Lana let the fire die down and flicked some of the blood away, turning back toward the encampment. Now, where were we?

The camp was burning, and a wave of thugs came out. Some hesitant, others in a dead sprint. Bliston couldn't get an exact number through all the smoke, but he reckoned this wasn't all of them. That could be both a good thing and a bad thing. Good because it meant that they could be dealt with one wave at a time. Bad because it meant more people left that could spot the insertion team. This would have to be handled in a special manner, taking the first wave down quickly enough to draw a second out but not to quickly or they'd fright retreat back. Thankfully the Vasqueran brat was doing something to help alleviate the problem a bit by launching another blast where a few of the thugs were still clumped in the camp. That would help provoke things a bit.

Mean while down in the clearing itself, it seemed the horned man had succeeded in drawing the most of the attention on him. Well, that suited him just fine he figured. A few were trying to maneuver around to his flanks while others rushing him blindly. He smirked under his helm, hefted his great club in both hands, and swung.

Crunch

The first man to come in range suddenly felt his left side being obliterated as Hevnoraak smashed into his arm, destroying the wooden shield attached and pulverizing him on contact. His blood curtailing scream was the only warning the man next to him got as the stone club continued uninterrupted on its course and carried the ruined body of it's previous victim into the next, knocking him of his feet. Two bodies went flying, though one was clearly worse off in terms of injuries having taken the brunt of the initial impact, the other only badly bruised.

"YES!" Bliston barked loudly. "Come to me!" One of the bandit's trying to get around him leapt forward to try and stab him. The bandit was caught by surprise, however, when that huge stone club swung around over head and came down on his shoulders. "My warclub hungers!" Another thug tried the same tactic from the other side but was meet with similar results when Hevnoraak's spiked head looped around again, coming in low this time, and crushed the man's knee cap.

It was a difficult thin fighting with a blunt weapon like a warclub, much different than a sword. The weight was at the completely opposite end of the killing tool, which meant that making sudden stops and sharp turns incredibly more difficult and wasteful in terms of stamina. Weapons like this relied on continuing the momentum generated by the initial swing to keep it's speed up, making a circular motion to return it to a 'ready' position for the next strike and avoiding expending more energy trying to get that speed back. You had to be even more careful to avoid over extending yourself because of how easy it was to leave an opening for your opponent if you couldn't get back into the 'ready' position quick enough. Such a thing required a tight amount of control, of both your weapon and your body if you wanted to be effective at defending yourself with it.

And in that moment Bliston was an exemplar of control. Not a twitch of a muscle was with out purpose, not a movement wasted in effort. The bandits closest got a front seat lesson as to why Bliston had become as famed as he was, and quickly halted their frontal assault to back up when it became clear that wasn't going to work. Everyone that didn't learn that lesson found themselves broken and bleeding on the ground several feet away.

Bliston, however, was amusing himself. "Feed my hunger for violence mortals! He laughed. It was one of the very few perks of being what he was. He could make as much of a hammy performance about being some big scarey monster come to do horrible things to their spines, and no matter how over the top it was it could still work as an intimidation tactic. "Bleed for me!" He cried, taking a step. "SCREAM FOR ME!" He took a swing at the nearest group to drive them back. "DIE FOR MEEEEE!"

It was as he was making this ridiculous show of himself that Bliston noticed some thing clang off his armor. A blur of something moving rather fast shooting toward his left, trying to bypass him and get to the rest of the team. Not having any of that, he roared and swept his stone club overhead and down on whoever it was that was ignoring him.

Day 3

Abruptly, an orange-tailed burst of flame was fired into the midst of the bandits' reserve forces, scattering them. "Shit!" one of them growled. "Quick, get the hostages! As long as we hold them, they can't attack us...right?"

The moment soon as those words were uttered, Sylphine knew they could no longer wait. As quickly as possible, she bolted into the air from her position laying on her stomach, summoned her staff, and twirled it twice in front of her body, blowing a harsh wind against the bandits. They held their ground well, only being forced back half a meter or so, but the fact that all of them had been forced back allowed the emerald-haired maiden to land with no troubles between the cages and the bandits.

A gentle breeze threw Sylphine's hood off, revealing her set expression. "You won't take a step further. These people have suffered by your hands enough," she declared adamantly, pointing her staff at them.

The bandits stopped, not quite sure what they were seeing. "Hah! You're just a scrawny little girl!" one of them finally laughed, stepping forward and hefting a lance over his shoulder. "What could the likes of you d-"

In response, Sylphine shoved the head of her staff in his direction, sending him flying backwards with a blast of hardened air. His comrades could now see that her eyes were glowing, revealing crests styled after four-armed cyclones in her irises. "A lot more than you'd think," she replied, pointing her staff in the air. The gem at the top was shining even brighter.

An insane-sounding howl from the other end of the camp burst through the smoke. "Feed my hunger for violence, mortals! Bleed for me! Scream for me! DIE FOR MEEEEE!" Some of the bandits looked back in horror; even Sylphine herself almost lost focus out of fear from the daemon's shouting. But realizing she had the perfect opportunity, she spun around and brought down her staff as though it was a lance. Two blades of air crashed through the bandits, knocking them back and slashing a number of them.

Kicking off the ground, Sylphine surged into the air over the bandits' heads, hoping she still had their attention. Her staff danced all around her, sending bursts of wind at each of them to keep their anger solely on her. Come on, guys! she thought desperately, looking at the cliff where the rest of the group hid.

Taethion

Taethion hunched down and walked ahead of Bliston, going according to his planning. He noticed the half-demon sluggish movements, but the Paladin suspected his armor and large frame would make it difficult for him to move like this. Still it didn't matter, he kept a close distance ahead of him in case he needed to hear his commands. Taethion came up to a bush as Bliston his behind a tree. Before anything else could be down explosions of fire erupted, something he would never guess would happen. Bliston mentioned the girl had fire abilities but nothing to the extent of this power! Just what is she!? Taethion believes he heard the term Vasqueran tossed around. What is a Vasqueran? He's never heard of these people before. If a little girl can do this, he shudders to think what an adult can do.

He heard Bliston bark not yet, but it seems the plan is executed ahead of time. Bliston gave up and decided to have us winging it from here. Bliston charged in and gave quite a show. Taethion stepped out but the heat was getting to him, this battleground went from mild to inhospitable in a few moments! Despite his coughing on the ashes, he could see the two going to town on the bandits. They were either stupid or paralyzed with fear as they were being slaughtered left and right. Taethion began to feel that his talents were not going to be required here. Then came a clang off his armor. A knife had struck him but it didn't manage to penetrate his armor. The greater concern was who threw it? It would seem Bliston was on the attacker's trail as he charged off seeking to slam his warclub down upon a new victim.

Randionalia

Randi watched the pillars of fire erupt as she sat within position. She knew the attack went on ahead of time. They were supposed to give them a five minute head start. It wasn't that long, considering her team just arrived. She groaned, These people sorely lacked team work. She thought. She could only feel a twinge of frustration, still that didn't matter the plan was still working. That was until it seemed some did not take the bait. She then looked towards the Wind Mage as she spoke, and while she could be useful in distractions, Randi believed she had to be reminded of her duty. "That is all well and good but do not forget you have a job to do. You are to levitate us down, tactically inserting us to where the hostages are." Before Randi could finish an explosion went off near them. This prompted the girl to take immediate action and before Randi could shout she flew off. "Damn!" She cursed under her breath.

"Can not follow directions it would seem...alright then, you two!" Randi spoke looking to Gale and Adrian. "I've seen your skills before, I am certain either one of you have what it takes to survive a drop like this. I am going to need the both of you to jump and land near the hostages, I want them secured! I'll provide some cover from up here and then meet you on the way down later. Now go!" She commanded. She then muttered some words to her self in Elven as a small snake slithered away.

"Yeah, yeah," Gale muttered, stuffing his hands in his coat and jumping casually off the edge. He felt the sudden rush of wind as he rapidly descended, his wings spreading out from his back about halfway down to slow down to a halt inches above the ground. He retracted his wings and took a cursory look around, watching as the wind girl blew away some of the bandits who had the bright idea of grabbing some of the hostages. He warped one of his hands into a mantis blade and cut free some of their bindings, ushering them to back away from all the chaos. "Keep 'em busy!" he called out to Sylphine, moving on to the next batch.

Iator

The mage watched in delight as the Vasqueran and Bliston began to attack the bandits. He hung back behind the flames and began casting spells. His first made several copies of himself placed around the battlefield. It happened to be a good idea because one was almost immediately cut down by a thrown dagger. He cast some other spells towards the Paladin, Vasqueran, and Half-fiend that made them appear to be about two feet away from where they really were to the bandits. He chuckled as the spells made many bandits strike at thin air instead of their targets.

It was then that he noticed the air mage flying over the battlefield with several bandits in tow. He doubted that there would be many others left in the camp, and even if there were, they'd be hard pressed to get them to leave. He drew his staff and stamped it on the ground, speaking in a language of power. At once a bluish crack opened slightly in the earth and moved towards the bandit's camp. Once it reached the opening to the camp, behind the bandits that had come out to attack, it flared outwards on both sides. Behind the crack came a large wall of bluish energy that spread across the entire opening to the camp. The bandits were now stuck in the battlefield with the warriors.

With that done, Iator watched the scene for a bit, wondering what other chaos he could commit.

Jor

With the battle well under way, the dwarf waited until he was needed. As hard as it was for him to ignore the battle cries and screams of pain, he would prefer to stay out of it. It was just too dangerous for him to fight with strangers as his allies. He could easily switch to them if his rage grew. However, when the mage's wall was cast, he knew it was his turn to go out and fight. Pravus had gone down into the camp so he would go to the battlefield.

He charged down into the battle, screaming bloody murder. He caught sight of a bandit who was running away from the fight. He charged up and smacked the bandit's legs with the pole of his axe, tripping him to the ground. Then he brought the Kuld down on the bandit's back.

Jor grinned, his face now covered with fresh blood. He laughed maniacally and charged a couple more bandits daring them to strike at him and maybe even call some friends for help. They'd need it.

"Y-you want me to jump off... THIS!?!" He asked Randi. She just looked at him, her eyes telling him to jump off. "O-ok." Adrian looked away and jumped off the edge. He fell straight down at the same speed as a normal object would fall. Landing on his feet, he felt like a lighting surged through his body. Stopping briefly from the shock. He quickly came to the hostages aid, ripping their bindings off like a string rather than rope. Having not such a silent decent, he obviously attracted the bandits' attention. "Oh damn..." He commented before some of the bandits charge toward them.

Day 3

(I shall briefly remind some of you *glares evilly* that the hostages were supposed to be in cages hanging from the trees...unless my memory suddenly became really bad.)

While Sylphine continued to battle, she noticed the shapeshifter and Adrian descending from the cliff. The shapeshifter caused wings to appear from beneath his cloak and glided straight over to where the hostages were being held, while Adrian somehow managed to survive the fall even though he landed on his feet. Good. They'd better be quick about it!

Continuing to dance wildly in midair, Sylphine was letting her magic fly without abandon. Blades of wind and bursts of air crashed through the camp, knocking the bandits into disarray. They tried to fight back by throwing javelins, knives, or even tomahawks at her, but she managed to deflect them each time with strong winds.

However, the girl noticed that three bandits had noticed Adrian's rather noisy landing, and were starting to run towards him...and by extension, the hostages. There was no way he couldn't have been affected by that fall...Sylphine raised her staff and let out a shout, and the air around those bandits rushing towards Adrian crumpled inwards, causing them to shout in surprise and eventually horror as they were crushed against each other, their few pieces of pilfered armor not really helping much under the pressure.

Knowing she would expend too much energy trying to outright crush them, Sylphine flew towards the bandits and struck them with an air blade, tearing through their vitals. But she had not been paying attention to what had been going on around her, for a tomahawk impaled itself in her back while she was finishing them off. With a scream, Sylphine fell forwards onto the earth. Seeing their chance, the remaining 12 bandits rushed at her with enthusiastic war cries.

Before they could reach her, the air in front of them exploded outwards, throwing them back again. The girl looked up to see Pirika descending, flapping her wings and throwing air blades at the bandits to repel them. So you really can't do anything without my help, the bird familiar mocked, reaching down with her beak and pulling the tomahawk out.

Letting out a sharp cry from the feeling of having it pulled out, Sylphine rubbed her back and winced. "I've only been hit once, no need to rub salt in the wound!" she retaliated, standing up and pointing her staff at the bandits again. The crests in her eyes glowed as she prepared to use a cyclone...

However, just as she started the attack, the bandit leader ran forward, holding a spiked iron club in one hand and a black longsword in the other. With a cackle, he brought the club down into the cyclone, dispelling it right away. "Heh, mages. Think they're so tough," he chuckled. "I'll show you a thing or two, girl!"

Just like that one we encountered in the city with the longsword, Sylphine thought grimly. But including him, there are still 12 more bandits...any good plans?

Pick off the other bandits first, Pirika responded. Let's do it! And with that, familiar and tamer flew in opposite directions, preparing their wind attacks once more.

Pravus

As the battle waged on weapons were clashing and spells were being fired and all the while he had been laying low. He noticed that half of the bandits were ordered to stay back at the camp, lessening the distraction group's benefit by some extent. The bandits that had stayed turned their attention to the rescue group and charged. All the while Pravus had been stalking on the the bandits he had picked out from the rest. This guy had both a spear which looked like it was in decent condition as well as a medium sized round shield with a band of iron riveted to it's borders to keep it from splitting as well as an iron center boss over the handle to protect the hand. On top of all that the man seemed wary of running into the conflict, putting him towards the back of the group going forth to stop group B from taking the hostages away. All he needed was for his victim to be out of the direct line of sight of his fellow bandits, just the right moment to strike.

And lo, that moment did arrive. Sneaking up behind him like the shadow of death the bandit he was after was facing towards the air mage but was backing away after seeing a number of his comrades cut down by magical currents of wind, leaving his rear very much vulnerable. He raised his shovel up, the man could not see his impending doom before it was much too late. He brought the shovel down in a diagonal cut, leveling out horizontally when it came around shoulder height, and cut the head clear from the body in one smooth stroke. The head flew a few feet away before hitting the ground and rolling further along.

Once the body was down he wasted no time. He took from the freshly decapitated bandit his spear, his shield and his leather belt. He put the shovel on his back and placed the belt over his right shoulder across the handle, donning the belt diagonally across his chest from upper right to lower left. The belt was secured firmly enough so that the shovel wouldn't slide down past it's head on his back. With his shovel safely tethered to his back he picked up the spear in his left hand and the shield in his right. Now he was ready to engage.


He noticed that the air mage had drawn the attention of almost all the bandits and the leader of this camp as well. Well, it seems that placing me in the reserve team wasn't a bad idea. He noticed he was in an optimal position to engage the bandits attacking the rescue group from behind and take them by surprise. As the wind mage and her familiar split directions, dividing the remainder of the bandits between them, he skulked up to the bandit's leader with his spear and shield up and ready.

Seizing the moment since the leader had yet to notice him he delivered a powerful stab of the spear right into the back of his right knee. He chose that target because he was certain there wasn't going to be any armor there and while a stab to the body would likely kill him it would of been harder because of the studded leather cuirass protecting his body and it wouldn't be a certain kill. Same sort of deal with the head. If he couldn't be absolutely certain he was going to kill this man he didn't want to try and wind up not damaging or disabling him enough before he turns to engage him. By stabbing the back of the knee he could be certain of disabling him in a severe way. After all, without the use of one of his legs this man wasn't going anywhere fast.


"Aaaaugh!" The bandit leader roared in pain as the tip of the spear drove into the back of his knee. The large man's leg was significantly injured but in a testament to his resilience he managed to remain standing. The bandit's leader wildly swung his spiked iron club back at the one who had struck him from behind but Pravus had already backed off, standing a good few feat out of his clubs range. He was smart enough to use the spears range to his advantage and stab the leg from afar before backing out of range before he took a club to the face.

The leader attempted to rush forward to try and take his life with either of his weapons but the man couldn't use either because he was hobbled, his right leg giving out a little with every step causing the bandit leader to favor his left leg more. It was child's play outpacing the large guy as this man furiously followed him. Even if the man had full use of both his legs he was fairly certain that since he was lighter he could outrun him. The distraction team had little difficulty with their set of bandit's and the rescue team was dealing with their share of the bandits well enough. Even if the bandit leader wanted to stop chasing after him and rejoin the battle with the rescue team he literally couldn't because the moment he'd turn his back Pravus would come and stab him dead. Both unable to catch him yet unable to disengage the only reasonable option left would be to surrender. Of course their leader was hardly a reasonable man and continued to chase Pravus in a futile effort to do him in despite the fact that he wasn't going to stop and fight fair. It was simply a manner of time until his group finished off the rest of the bandits and converge on his foe.

Whether the bandit's leader liked it or not, his only hope was that his men could kill both groups and come to his aid. Pravus knew this as well and judging from the way the battle was going that result was getting less and less likely with each passing moment.

Randionalia

She watched as the shapeshifter descended harmlessly to take care of the hostages. She noticed that the boy walked a bit shaky from his landing. Perhaps she overestimated the his ability some. Maybe the rumors about him jumping and making craters was a bit exaggerated. She should extend an apology to him later, but luckily she did have enough confidence that he would survive. Even though his descent caused some noise, the bandits were picked off by the girl. Then when she was struck, and as Randi went to defend her, the bird came to the rescue. It would seem the leader has arrived with whatever men he had left. She drew her knives and prepared to enter the fight. The Mage and the Bird flew off to take care of the fodder, as Randi decided to assist them. Like many of the Elves, Randi had perfect vision being able to see better than most other people. Despite the smoke reducing some of that visibility she was still able to throw her knives and hit her targets.

Many were neck shots, but some were found in other places like the back, arms, and legs. Some dropped and others were injured, reducing the threat her team faced. Between the flying knives and the wind spells, the bandits had no opportunity to charge in for their hostages. They were cut off effectively and soon enough these hostages would be freed. The Leader would have posed a problem if not for the Gravedigger. She didn't worry much at this point, the Gravedigger is more skilled than one would believe. She could at least testify to that. She noticed the sudden blue walls and worried that the bandits were up to something. Except for the fact that the wall kept many of them from escaping. So it seemed that one of her comrades was responsible for this.

Taethion

Taethion watched as Iator entered the fight. His spells were already proving a nuisance to the bandits, as some where beguiled into attacking the air, while a large blue wall of energy appeared soon after. Between Bliston's bloodcurdling theatrics and slaughter, the Vasqueran's fire, and Iator's tricks, the bandits were fighting a losing battle. He noticed one came close to him but wound up slashing at the air. Taking this opportunity Taethion brought his blade down on the bandit as blood spurted about his neck and chest. After he fell, he saw a few more of the tricked bandits. Quickly he came in with his blade and ran through a couple more. He noticed some of the bandits were trying to flee but the wall kept them corralled with the Distraction Team. He could see battles taking place else where in the camp. He wasn't quite sure but it seemed the bandits were losing every which way they turned. Being defeated by either the Rescue Team or the Reserve Team. It would seem they would soon reach Bliston's quota, despite the hiccups in the plan.

Day 3

Darting between the thrown weapons of the bandits, Pirika delivered several strong gusts of wind to the bandits in order to keep their movements locked. A blade of air extended from her beak, and she dove around a bandit wearing incomplete armor so that she was positioned near his exposed left side. Surging upwards, the bird familiar slashed and tore through his flesh before ascending once again.

In retaliation, the bandit tried to get her with his axe, but a tailwind allowed Pirika to get out of the way of the clumsy swing. Looping around in a tight circle, the bird familiar flapped her wings and sent two air blades into his face, knocking him back. "Dammit! Get them!" the bandit leader shouted, raising his club.

Realizing how close he was to her, Pirika started to worry, but the bandit leader howled and staggered before he could make his attack, a spear protruding from his knee. Furiously, he swung his sword at the assailant--who turned out to be the masked man from the party--but he leaped away, having attacked from just out of the leader's range.

Well, with him disabled and distracted like that, Sylphine and I can fight all out, the bird thought in satisfaction. Glancing over her wing, she could see her tamer still performing dance-like moves as she attacked and dodged. But the girl seemed noticeably clumsier, and her face looked strained. At one point, a javelin even slashed through her coat, trailing blood as the girl let out a cry. What's the matter? Pirika asked, worried. You look like you're half dead already!

One bandit ran forward, grabbed the javelin again, and prepared to throw it, but a knife struck him in the neck--the elf had joined the fray. Clutching her upper arm where the javelin had struck her, Sylphine responded breathlessly. That tomahawk caused a lot more damage than I thought it would...I'm keeping the blood in with air pressure, but it still hurts so much...I don't know why, but I just can't focus as easily now...ah, b-but...no need to worry, the javelin only made a shallow cut...I'll last!

Sylphine took the staff in her uninjured right hand, and the crests in her eyes flashed as she thrust her weapon straight down. The air exploded outwards in the midst of a group of bandits, throwing them into the air before they could reach Adrian and the hostages. Some of them had knives sticking out of various parts of their body from the elves, but Sylphine didn't really have time to figure out which ones she could leave for dead. "Pirika!" she shouted, pointing at them.

Nodding, Pirika flew up above the group and opened her beak, letting out a high-pitched screech. The winds began to swirl around the group of stunned bandits and picked them up, quickly turning into a cyclone. A few moments later, they were thrown out of the vortex, crashing into their comrades, or into rocks and trees...most importantly, all the ones struck by this cyclone were now unconscious or dead.

Right at that moment, a bandit leaped into the air and tried to strike at Sylphine with a sword. Without much time to respond, Sylphine tried to block it using her staff, but the injury on her arm meant she could use only one arm. The attack was too strong for her to completely resist the force, and she was thrown to the ground hard. Laughing, the bandit tried to land on her with his sword, but Sylphine recovered enough to blast him away unceremoniously a second before he could make contact. The girl forced herself to stand, but she was breathing hard, sweating, and shaking uncontrollably.

Hovering near Sylphine's shoulder, the green bird tried to reason with her tamer. You really need to get out of here if you're feeling that much pain. Have Adrian or the shapeshifter do the fighting for you, and take a rest. And I really mean it, Sylphine.

Biting down on her lip, the girl seemed to struggle with the idea of letting the others take over. Then finally, she responded while sounding somewhat bitter, "Fine." Creating a barrier of air so that the bandits couldn't get past, the girl called over her shoulder, "Adrian! There are only a few bandits left, but all the same, let's switch roles! You'll take them on, and I'll free the hostages! Got it?"

The wound from the tomahawk was throbbing worse and worse...it was kind of freaky that one hit could cause this much pain.

Fires raged all throughout the camp, plumes of smoke billowed upward, and bodies were littered all throughout the camp. Asha slid her bloodied sword back into its sheath, stepping over the recently made corpses that were sprawled around her. Their bodies were covered in severe cuts, some nearly split in half as a result of multiple consecutive strikes. Hm, it's not quite perfected yet, she thought, heading deeper into the camp. But the next one should be the last test piece I need before I get a complete handle on it. Her gaze shifted over to a separated wave of bandits coming in from another angle. Well, I guess they'll have to suffice. One of them turned around, spotting her and readying his weapon. Wanting to get it over with quickly, Asha gave him no time to react, entering her sword drawing stance and closing the distance in the blink of an eye. The bandit being too confused and exhausted to really do anything, the slash cut through his side, cleaving straight through - the dash that accompanied the momentum of the attack place her well behind the target, wherein she converted some of that momentum into a spin that turned her around to face him again, instantly repeating the dash. The second slash finished what the first one started, completely cleaving the bandit's body in half. She ended the mental timer in her head, sighing a little slipping the sword back into its sheath. Two seconds? Not bad, it'll have to do. Not much I can do about the obvious stance, but I guess it shouldn't be a problem if I keep working on the speed. It doesn't matter if they know what I'm about to do if they don't have the reflexes to react to it. The attack she'd developed was designed to be something to use in one-on-one fights to get in multiple immediate strikes before her opponent can do anything, a quick opener to give an early advantage should they fail to counter or block it. Guess I might as well help these guys out, she thought, looking around and narrowly side-stepping to avoid a flying knife. Her attention locked on a female bandit armed with knives. Let's go for one point five seconds this time. She certainly didn't wait for her to get as close, deciding to use her razor wind technique instead by unsheathing her weapon in a rapid slashing motion that released an invisible wave of kinetic force from her blade and traveled toward the assassin. Asha followed in after her own projectile attack with a rapid dash that caught up to the projectile's speed, simultaneously launching a double attack. While the razor wind was a horizontal strike aimed toward her body, her blade attacked moved in to intercept her arm, certain that the significantly longer reach of her sword would get there if the assassin decided to completely follow through with the attack with her knife.

Selena ran towards the swordwoman, but caught a glimpse of an attack out of the corner of her eye. She jumped to the side to avoid it just in the nick of time as a large club swept past her, then she saw the razor sharp wind coming at her from the side and she jumped off to the side a few feet away from the two, taking a defensive stance and waiting for their move.

Asha carefully eyed the assassin's movements as she leapt out of the way of her razor wind and swiftly avoided her sword strike. She scanned her stance, taking note of even the slightest nuances, all the while turning her own momentum around and initiating a second dash. She was to attempt the 1.5 second reflective slash wherein she'd make a single horizontal strike during her gap closer and then instantly repeat it on the opposite side for a clean cut in half.

Bliston snorted as his attack missed. He watched his targets movements, and was surprised to see she had the traits of a a beast kin half breed. This one was clearly skilled though, judging by the speed of her movements. Much more skilled than anything this trash could usually sport. He would have stayed on her but he caught a glimpse of the other bandits circling around him again. Growling a bit, he stepped back and let the swordswoman take her for now and focused instead on the larger mass of people. He did keep an eye on them though, his curiosity now piqued.

Selena saw the daemon turning toward the bandits, but saw that he's still keeping an eye on them. She saw the swordswoman doing the another almost similar move again, she easily dodged it by ducking very close to the ground. She started to whistle, but no sound came out of her mouth. By the time the second slash came, she leap forward and passed the swordswoman.
Asha took note of her opponent's speed, who not only dodged the first strike, but quickly evaded the second one as well, dodging out of the way to her side. She slid her blade back into its sheath and hover her hand over the hilt, taking an incredibly obvious sword drawing stance. Hm, that was my fastest attack. Looks like it still needs some work, then. This time she approached her very gradually, her eyes completely fixated on her opponent's form. She's definitely much faster than I am, that's for sure, but it won't matter. I'm getting used to her movements. Did she call for back up? Her eyes briefly picked through the surrounding trees. A bluff? Doesn't matter right now, there's someone in front of me.

Selena drew out some of her throwing knives. She has only very little left, but she can pick out the knives she previously thrown knives if she can find the chance to get it. While the swordswoman isn't making her move yet, she took this chance to attack. She threw three knives at her, expecting her to dodge it and use the chance to cut the vital in her neck with her dagger.
Asha knew exactly what was about to happen as soon as the assassin pulled her throwing knives out, but did nothing to show that she was preparing for an attack, continuing forward without breaking her stride. She wasn't entirely sure yet, but she'd confirm it as it happened and react accordingly. Three daggers came flying at her and she instantly reacted by drawing her sword and released a wave of energy that knocked two out of them out of the air by drawing a line between them. Since the blade move in the opposite direction of the knives and became wider as it gained speed, she'd have to divert some of her momentum in trying to dodge her attack as well. Asha took a slight step backwards to have the third knife pass by her, already having sheathed her blade again and waiting for the assassin to completely close the distance.

Selena saw the swordswoman knocked and dodged the knives. It wasn't entirely unexpected, but she lost her chance to aim for an opening. Fighting close combat is not really her thing, she would rather hit her and jump a few feets away, but the swordswoman isn't that easy. Her ears twitched as she heard rustling nearby, six wolves jumped out to the open and moved to Selena's side. Baring their teeth at the swordswoman. She commanded the wolves to attack the swordswoman's limbs with a silent voice unheard by man's ears. The wolves nodded and jumped toward the swordswoman's limbs, two aiming for the arm holding the sword.
While all this was going on, not eleven feet away Bliston was still dealing with the mass of of nervous thugs. He already had them off balance, but he was getting bored of dealing with lowgrade scum like this. Considering how they were already beginning to dwindle a bit, he figured it was about time he pushed them from frightened, to traumatized. Another bandit tried to sneak around to his side again and try for a stab at his flanks. Bliston reach out with his left hand and grabbed the man by the face, hefting him up into the air. Perfect. This one would do nicely. "You bore me, weaklings." He snarled. He began squeezing the mans head, illicting a series of screams from him. Several of his companions on the ground visibly flinched at the noise. "Flee. Flee for your wretched lives and I may yet spare you whelps." They backed up but didn't run. A sinister smile etched its way under his helm "I SAID FLEE WRETCHED WORMS!" He boomed. With a twist of his hand he broke the bandits neck, tossed him into the air, and then smashed his body with the warclub, sending it sailing into the crowd of bandits infront of him. The effect was instantaneous, and the thugs scattered, broke ranks and ran to get away from the massive daemon. Smiling to himself he turned back to where the wolfkin and the swordswoman we're fighting, just in time to catch sight of the wolves breaking through the brush. He laughed, and called out "Need help?" to Asha.

Watching as the wolves came around at Selena's side, Asha heard the armored daemon ask if she needed assistance. "If you're able, then I'd certainly appreciate it," she said, watching closely as the wolves came at her. Since there was still some distance between them, she used her razor wind to strike them from afar, releasing one after another in rapid succession. They weren't as strong as her usual ones, but there were multiple wolves to deal with that were closing in on her so there was no time to complain. They weren't quite lethal, but they would serve as a rather painful deterrent against them. To make the best use out of her attacks, she aimed for their legs to disable their mobility.

The wolves whimpered as they dragged their bodies back toward Selena. Some were still able about two of them. The wolves she called was quite weak compared to the others, but she knew that the swordswoman's blow was quite weak, either it is because it is to push the wolves away or she is exhausted. Thought she doubts that. The others lied on the side, and licking each others wound. She commanded the two to attack her again, but this time they started leaping in an unpredictable zigzag motion. Selena did the same, but instead of charging toward her straight on, she leapt behind her and stab her at the back of her neck.

As the wolfkin girl rounded behind Asha, closing in for a strike from her behind, a voice echoed incredibly close by. "Hold there." That was the only warning Selena would get before the studded back of Bliston's gauntlet began swinging its way on an intercept course with the wolfkin's own face.

She knew the assassin was fast, but her movements exceeded her expectations - the assassin was behind her in a flash and she was about to move to confront her when the armored daemon came charging in, swinging his fist at her. Figuring he could take her, she decided to quickly take care of the wolves - they were moving in a bizarre zigzag pattern that ultimately didn't accomplish much and only wasted their energy, as Asha could see where they would jump to before they even started to leap - she predicted their trajectories and in rapid succession, sent out two full power razor winds toward them, striking them both dead on before quickly turning around to flank Selena.

Selena saw the daemon's fist coming toward her face. She can hear each of his loud step as he ran toward her from behind and easily dodged by leaping sideward and toward the thicker part of the forest. She saw the two of her wolves dead as the swordswoman easily read their movement.

Finishing off the last of the bandits, Lana took notice of one of them trying to make a break for it into the forest. Scowling, she summoned a molten torrent of fire in her hand and launched it - the large ball of flame exploded in mid-air and released a volley of small fire balls that scattered in a wide area in front of Selena, blocking her off from the forest.

Under his helm, Bliston grinned. "Hold!" He shouted, and held up a hand in a pause sign whilst still keeping one eye on the wolfkin girl. "The hostages are the priority, remember. Go back up the other team." He ordered Lana.

The bandit leader started to call for Selena's help. With her great hearing she could hear it from distance away. While they were talking, she suddenly leapt away from them and run back to the camp at full speed. Feeding them her dust. The moment before she entered the camp She felt a wall blocking her way as a large blueish dome was covering the camp. She looked back toward the diversion team. The only who could have possible done it was the gnome who is not suitable for physical combat.

"Your friends there are finished girl." Bliston called to her.

"I want to burn her to cinders," Lana said in a flat tone, embers sparking in her hands. "I'm not letting her get away."

"Calm yourself child." Blistion barked. "And did I not give you instructions? Leave this one to us, the others could probably use you more."

Lana rolled her eyes and put out the flames for now, heading toward the rescue team. Despite her rampage, she hadn't quite quelled her bloodthirst yet, but she'd have to let it sit for now. "Fine."

In the distance they could all hear Jor cackling madly as he felled more bandits. He seemed to be doing well, rounding up the ones who were fleeing and ridding them of vital organs and gallons of blood.

The little spite fire now diverted for now, the daemon turned his full attention to the wolfkin. In his earlier haste to aid Asha he had abandond Hevnoraak behind, but the horned man didn't seem to care about his disarmed state. Infact, he seemed rather confidant as he took slow delibrate strides towards the wolfkin girl. "So..." He started with the tone of someone discussing the weather. "You're a skilled little lass, aren't you? Whats someone with your talent hanging about with this country bumpkin trash?"

Selena looked toward the daemon. "I was hired, much like you, Bliston." She answered, not a hint of anxiety in her voice.

"Hired?" Hints of a chuckle entered his voice. "How many sovereigns could this lot pay you."

"300 sovereigns down payment and a quarter of the treasures hidden underneath Andril." Selena answered him. She pretty much lost, there's no reason for her to not answer their questions.

"300!?" Bliston burst into laughter. "That's a pitiful pay for a fool's errand like this." Honestly, kidnapping and sending a ransom to a larger and more well equipped military force was the kind of things idiot bandits would do. "That's making the assumption the gold under the keep even exists." Crossing his arms on his chest, he tilited his head at her, a hint of amusement in his eyes. "And thats also even assuming this rabble would even be willing to follow up on that payment. Tell me, how did you plan on transporting that much gold? In your pockets? Carrying it in your arms?"

"They were supposed to give me a wagon to carry it back, and the treasures underneath the fort is true." She answered again, not the slighest bit unnerved or annoyed by Bliston's mockery.

"Yes and trotting through the country side with a wagon full of gold wouldn't attract any sort of attention, or questions." He waved his hand in a circular motion, and began to pace around her. "There is a reason why most just take coin, kid. It's easier to cash in, don't need to worry about fencing it, and you don't need to put as much effort into hidding it."

"I don't plan to bring it in just any place."

"Of course not, but maybe you should think about avoiding taking your jobs from low down rabble who have a tendancy of getting way to far in over their heads. There is an easier way of getting money, girl, and it involves getting a healthy bit of respect along with it. Something this lot of bush sqautters could never give you." He took a sit not to far from her, on a fallen tree, and motioned for her to sit on a stump across from him. "Would you care to hear a proposition miss...?" He trailled off, trying to indicate that he wanted her to introduce herself.

Selena sat on the tree stump across from Bliston. As the one who lost, she has to comply to their demands. "Proposition?" She asked, slightly curious, but not the slightest hint of it in her voice.

Bliston removed his helm. Setting it aside, he leaned forward a bit, crossing his hands and resting his chin on them. "The life of a mercenary isn't always the easiest one." He started "S*** pay, dangerous work, and if things go wrong you can be branded a criminal and end up running from the law. But some, rare few, they get that lucky break. They find someone of some high standing that notices them, hires them, and if they do well may hire them again. They build a reputation, establish a ring of contacts that employ them regularly, and eventually find people coming to them with a job, instead of having to hunt down someone willing to shell out pay." A grin was still etched into the daemons face. "For someone like me who's been in the buisness long enough, I've had the good fortune of that kind of reputation for being reliable for a while now. And as such I occasionally get contacted by some fairly high rollers. Just recently, infact, I had received a write of summons by the king of Londe himself." That grin grew. "And the job as was summoned for, was the slaying of a particular dragon thats been harrassing his people." He leaned back, hands now resting on his knees. "I was intrigued by this offer, but the more I think about it the more I beleive that we'd need a tad more man power to bring this drake down. So to that end I extend my offer. How would you like to leave these small time country trash behind, and join a wyrm hunt commissioned by his royal magesty himself?"

Selena listened attentively to Bliston's lectures. She is excellent at doing her job, but not that good at choosing it. She can see the difference in experience between them. "I see your point. I accept your offer. I lost, you win, that's all that there is." She answered. She failed and her client is most probably dead. She will have to return the coins, even to a corpse.

With most of the bandits defeated and the rest being swiftly mopped up by Jor, Iator came out of hiding. He removed the spell on himself and the many copies vanished. It seemed as though the displacement spell he had cast on the others had dissipated over time as well. With the wolf-kin subdued and talking to Bliston, Iator thought that they might as well get into the camp to help out the others if they needed it. He said as much to Bliston, who had taken on the role as the distraction team's leader.

Bliston let out a short laugh. "Don't look so glum girl. You're leaving the little leagues behind now. Just think of what you might be seeing in the future." It was then that he heard Iator calling him. "I'll be there in a minute." He called back. "Get the others and have them meet up further in." He turned back to the girl. "Meet us back at the fort later. I'll need some time to sway the others into hiring you on." With that he got up and retrieved his helmet. As he turned he ask "By the way, what was your name? You know mine but never gave me yours."

"Selena, Selena Wulfric." She respond.

Iator nodded and collected whoever he could get to come with him. Jor was too busy fighting to pay attention so he hoped the others would follow. With that, he walked up to his force wall and dismissed it with the wave of his hand, eager to see how the other team had done.

"Very well. I will be seeing you again soon, young Wulfric." And then Bliston strode away to join up with the insertion team and the rest of the party.

Day 3

Before any response from Adrian reached her ears, Sylphine noticed the blue barrier which had descended in the middle of the fight was receding, and Iator and the daemon were now approaching the camp. Once they arrived and took on the remaining five bandits, Sylphine knew she would be able to rest. It looked as though this mission would end smoothly...good, she really needed a nap and something soft to lie down on right now...

...phine? SYLPHINE?! THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO BE FALLING ASLEEP!

"Haah?!" Sylphine's eyes snapped open just in time to see a dark gray sword coming down at her face. She was able to dodge it by a hair's breadth with a tailwind, as it ripped through part of her coat. Oh, no! I lost my focus and the air wall faded! Geez, how much was she going to lose it in this fight?

In her fatigued and pained state, Sylphine found it very hard to dodge the bandits' attacks. An axe almost connected with her head, and she nearly lost her foot to a naginata. All the while, her eyes were flashing as she tried to prepared some more magic, but they weren't giving her much time to concentrate. The bandits, unaware of the gnome or the daemon coming closer, continued to strike at her with vicious grins on their faces.

Darting at them from above, Pirika struck at all of them with gusts of wind to slow them down, but she was quickly noticed. The man with the naginata took a stab at her, forcing the bird familiar to fly away. In the meantime, a man with a flamberge brought his weapon down upon Sylphine, hoping to take away her staff by forcing it out of her hands with the ridges on his sword...

To his surprise, Sylphine swung her staff in the exact same motion...but the weapon that went flying was the flamberge. The bandit stared at his empty hand in shock, then looked back towards Sylphine. Though her breathing was still labored, the girl stood defiantly, the air swirling fast around the entire length of her staff. The girl raised her staff and swung it directly at the thief in front of her, and he was thrown backwards into his crew, sending them piling into the ground. Then, with the last of her energy, Sylphine spun around twice and gestured, and the air around the bandits catapulted them a few meters in front of the other members of her party.

With this, all the bandits had been dealt with, and the bandit leader would likely be taken care of quickly by the masked man and his new spear. Managing a wane smile, Sylphine closed her eyes, and toppled over onto the ground, too tired to keep standing...or to stop the blood from flowing out of the tomahawk wound.

Her familiar was still awake, though, and very worried now. The bird, noticing her tamers' clothes starting to be stained red, quickly applied her own air seal to the wound. You'd better not die on me now, fool! She then rushed towards Taethion, trying to get his attention...but, well, it's kind of hard to get the meaning across when you're a bird and the only way you can talk to other people is if they have telepathy.

Iator
Iator entered the camp with Bliston, looking for the signs of battle. They were everywhere. Though, it looked as though the members of the rescue team had won most of their battles. He saw the downed Sylphine narrowly avoid death and defesart a couple more bandits before falling to the ground. Iator rushed ahead to help, quickly removing one of his wands. "In the name of Amenazor," he said, placing the wand near her wounds. "Be healed." A faint white light glowed from the wand and began to mend her wounds some, enough to stop her from bleeding out at least.

After the hostages are free and the bandits are defeated. He saw Sylphine fall to the ground. "Sylph!" He shouted as her ran toward her. He held her body, he immediately felt something on his hands and looked at it. "Ah..! S-she's bleeding to much. Aaahhh..!" He thought as he stared at the blood in his hands. He is starting to panic, frightened at the thought that she will die. "H-help... Somebody... Sir T-Taethion! I need to find him!" He thought as he frantically look around, tears starting to flow out of his eyes. He stood up to look for Taethion, but toppled back, out of the shock from seeing his friend bleeding to death. "S-somebody... Help..." He said in a weak voice.

Then, the diversion group returned. He saw Iator rushed toward Sylphine and looked at him with a teary eyes. "H-help..." He tried to say, but no voice came out. Iator placed his wand near Sylphine's wound and after a fight light appeared from the wand and healed the wound. He went closer to Sylphine upon seeing her wound was healed, well not completely. "Sylph!"

Taethion

The Paladin watched as most of the Distraction Team engaged a single foe. He couldn't exactly tell who or what they were fighting, on account of the smoke and the enemy's speed. Taethion was a little bit worried that the combined efforts of some of their best warriors have still yet to finish the enemy off. Then came some wolves, something this warrior hadn't expected to see. Despite these beasts appearing, Asha managed to finish them off. After Bliston finished off the remaining Bandits he would soon speak with their enemy. An action he was surprised to see be taken. It seemed the Half-Demon was trying to appeal to the knife thrower's sensibilities. Taethion moved a little closer to get a better look of this foe. It was a woman but even more surprisingly she had wolf like features. At least he thought wolf, maybe dog, but it doesn't matter. It seemed Bliston convinced this enemy to retire her attempts and have decided to follow us.

The Paladin was unsure of enlisting a person would just but minutes ago tried to kill them. Still, if they have the likes of Bliston and the girl and the Dwarf, then he supposes he could be fine with the assassin. He would have to see how the rest of the group reacts. Then came a bird with bluish perhaps greenish feathers flapping about his face. Taethion at first was confused but then remembered something about a bird. Yes, Sylphine owned this bird didn't she? It seemed to be trying to tell him something. The Paladin couldn't discern the animal's intentions but he assumed it was frantic. Judging by how wild it was flapping about but then came some screams from over near the Rescue Team. He heard his name called by Adrian as the Paladin perked up he ran forward and then discovered the boy near Sylphine. Worried he watched as her clothes were stained with blood. Iator seemed to have done something, but his healing magic was lesser compared to his. Not wanting to see either of his teammates hurt, Taethion began to speak some words. "Wounds like the Dark, are similar notions as they sway to and fro, and dance around a common end. For those harmed often find themselves lost in darkness before light is found, even then the most strongest may never see that light through crowded shadow. Lord Dedarius, may he shine the light for you, a bright light that can never be ignored as it commands the darkness to begone from your body. With it may the wounds be cast back into the Dark and may your body be returned to the light of this world. Lord Dedarius compels this!" Taethion shouted in the end as he waved his hand and a bright light quickly enveloped her body. Depending on if Sylphine's body accepts this boon of health will affected her healing. If she does accept then her health will be returned to normal and all wounds will be sealed both external and internal. She would feel rejuvenated soon after.

Randionalia

She watched the fight and assisted as best she could from on high. As they fight came to an end she worried about the girl, Sylph, the boy called out. Soon an extremely large snake would seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. Randi jumped and landed while it was coiled. She quickly slid off the snake's scaly skin as it reverted back to a smaller form. The Elf seemed to have spoken with herself as she learned where to free the remaining hostages stuck up above. It seemed the Paladin is taking care of the injured as she walked on by. Where her friend had spoken, there was a lever and when she pushed upon it, cages were lowered and with the hostages. They were crying tears of joy as they expressed their thankfulness. The Elf gave a small smile as she opened the cages and returned them to where they have been gathering the hostages. "That's the last of them." She spoke to no one in particular.