Unsteady Ground [IC]

[MelissaB]

Salyandra's brow furrowed in confusion at the strange set up. "No you damn bartender drugged me probably with the help of your bloody messenger and another. Given that why is a little girl leading a group of bandits?" She complained bitterly her hand gripping the hilt of her sword in recollection. "I personally make it habit not to get drunk when surrounded my bandits. Leads to problems such as this one but they're not so easily fixed." she nodded to the 'chief's' too companions. "So as they'e chief should I perhaps leave it up to you how I deal with them or should I follow my muse?" Her tone dangerous close to murderous. It'd be clear what Salyandra isn't impressed by what they tried to do nor willing to let the matter slide without repercussions.

[Icaelus]

"Mm. Good."
Vivienne smiled, savoring the taste of the mutton and taking another bite.
She looked at the wolf skip along up to a tall cabinet, nuzzling it just as if..it wanted something.
Her cloudy eyes travelled the distance and rested on the beige dish at the very top of the cabinet. Was that actually stew? And why the heck would someone place it up all the way there?
"Is that your meal? What, not a fan of mutton, hm?"
Viv grinned, the expression soon fading to a resigned shake of her head. Well, the wolf did bring her to some food..the least she could do was get the stew for it.
She glanced beside her at a very conveniently placed crate. Just needed a bit of pushing, but she would be hard pressed to do even that with her meager physical strength.
With a last annoyed glance at the wolf she started pushing, the heavy crate inching itself in place towards the cabinet.
Two minutes later she was tiptoeing up on the crate, the dish just brushing her fingertips.
"Do wolfs even eat stew? Ugh!"
Viv groaned. God just had to make her naturally short too, didn't he?
The surge of annoyance that usually came with being short and an ill temper led her to jump and snatch at the dish of stew.
Never a good idea while you were standing on a crate..
The results of her little hop led to half of the stew caking her waist-length pink hair, a broken crate and of course a very sore behind that took the fall.
Vivienne glared at the wolf, holding the half-empty or half-full plate of stew up. Usually she would have stopped to consider whether it was half-empty or half-full, but having stew in your hair doesn't do wonders for your mood. Also, screw Pessimist and Optimist. Consider the stew half-spilled.
"Are you really a wolf? I'm sure they don't eat stew.."
She muttered, setting the plate down before the wolf.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire slides one of her hidden daggers from her sleeve into her hand. She then, carelessly, throws it at the imp's head. She turns and looks at Garian and the Angel. "Heh, guess we're on the Angel's side. At least for now."

[That_One_Guy]

Garian spins around again, bringing his sword down now in an attempt to cleave him, he uses his other hand and shoots a fireball against another of the many demons that are attacking.

[napsii]

Garian + Claire -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The already weakened spearman is devastated by Garian's two-prong attack. Too slow to defend himself competently, the blade cuts through him and he falls like a sack of bricks flat onto his face, motionless (Killed! +10 SE). As he casts his fireball he can feel what looks like a hazy, transparent flame leak out from the dead man's body and flow into him as he extracts a small amount of Soul Essence.

His fireball splashes across the full face helmet of a more heavily armored warrior (22 damage), who uses a buckler and a short sword to cleave past the pro-Angelic warriors with a striking ease. From his figure, Garian judges that the he is quite obviously a she, but it's somewhat hard to tell when he's decked out in a full suit of chainmail and leather.

The female pro-Demon warrior immediately looked towards him and charged him with her shield, aiming to knock Garian off his feet. She looks quicker and smarter than his previous opponent.

Claire's dagger meanwhile hits its mark ridiculously easily, splitting open the imp's head. Likewise she feels an odd sensation as Soul Essence transfers from the 3 dead imps into her body (+10 SE). She might wanna help out Garian with his tough looking opponent instead of talk, however...

Meanwhile, the Angelic Knight and her opponent continue to charge at each other, the Demon using his enchanted staff and magic shields to deflect sword blows while the Knight continues her relentless assault, occasionally nicking him and cutting his robe though causing obvious collateral damage to the nearby carts as she sends bursts of white flame outwards from her longsword, which the Demon deflects narrowly into the surroundings. She's obviously incredibly experienced as all of the Demon's magical attacks splash harmlessly off of her shield. Maybe just a little longer and she'll have this fight wrapped up...

Garian - 300/300 HP
Female Warrior - 228/250 HP (is quite vengeful!)
Claire - 200/200 HP

Flim + Flam -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

It's sort of obvious that none of these boys or girls are trained soldiers, as they're quite captivated by your eccentric sales pitch. Obviously just a group of conscripts to some army that are fighting for their chosen side. Many of them lower their weapons and drink in what you have to say with interest, although the archer girl cracks a small, amused smile, perhaps at the vividness of your speech. She at least doesn't seem very interested in the product, but a few of the men are.

"Sounds... nice, I guess..." one of the men shrugged. Several others nodded.

"Does it have healing properties?" another questioned.

"How fast does it get you hammered?"

"Will it make Talkea like me?" (this draws a blush and a frown from the archer girl)

And then perhaps the question you want to hear most of all:

"How much for one?"

Well, you were supposed to sell these in Marche, but it couldn't hurt to make a quick buck here, right? You'll probably have plenty...

The suspicious man doesn't exactly let his guard down and still wears an annoyed look on his face (choosing to remain silent, to your benefit), but he doesn't seem to object.

Clife -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Panner opens his mouth to say something else, but before he can a loud voice is heard from the other side of the bar.

"PANNER! Jegen wants you in the chief's hut." the voice calls. Distantly, you can also hear something like "You too, Lye!" from inside the makeshift tavern.

A neutral expression crosses Panner's face and he sheathes his sword, brushing past you as if you never existed and leaving you alone behind the bar. It seems nobody else has even taken note of you.

Well, that was highly convenient. What say you now?

Salyndra -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The trio watch you remark your story with mixed expressions on their face. Reila, most of all, just seems somewhat irritated and perhaps a bit embarrassed by her subordinates' behaviors, but she isn't too impulsive to act. Instead, she leans over to Jegen and Tinelle and they exchange a few whispers before all nodding in agreement.

"Of course I'm da bloody chief. Me pops is out sick, that he is, and taught me all he 'nose! And well, my pops liked you that he did... wouldn't want ya to get clobbernockered while you're 'ere... so... uh..." Reila's reply trailed off a bit.

"And we respect your experience. So we'll have the... em, perpetrators brought here." Jegen continued on before snapping his fingers, prompting a plain looking man to push open the flimsy door and lean his head in. Guy must have had sharp ears.

"Tell Lye and Panner to come here." he commanded, and the man dashed off leaving the room in silence until the two you pointed out walked in.

Lye seemed visibly nervous and confused, but the man from before, Panner, didn't seem to give one fuck. They stood next to each other.

"Well, ya trying to drug me friends, yeah? I don't tolerate nunna that." Reila said simply. As she speaks, you can see Tinelle withdraw a fearsome looking crossbow, already loaded, before walking over and handing it to you. The quarrel loaded into it would equal certain death if you hit either of them in the chest, neck or head. But there's only one shot.

Lye explodes with fear: "Gods no! I didn't do it... well, I did, but only because they told me to. Uh, the other guys in the bar, I mean. I could never do that." he explains hastily. You admit it's unlikely he'd ever do something like this of his own initiative.

Panner says little, seeming uncaring for the crossbow which he knows is the chief's tool of choice for enforcing discipline: "I have no interest in this woman. But the others who inhabit the bar aren't like myself." he said tersely with his arms crossed. It corroborated Lye's explanation, at least.

"Well, I don't know anything about dat. Take a shot so we can git on wit 'hour day." Reila said impatiently, looking somewhat bored. Tinelle and Jegen look on to see what you'll do with a mix of interest and indifference. You hear Reila mutter something about a sandwich.

Vivienne -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

As you step up onto your crate, the wolf begins wagging its tail excitedly. What in the world is with it and this stew? The broth (which is cooked with chicken, pork, carrots, celery and a metric ton of spices) is somewhat cold, making it less than appetizing over your mutton, but not to the wolf.

As you reach up to grab it, though, you feel an invasive presence up your skirt as the wolf shoves his nose right into your vulnerable underwear and snorts before backing down like nothing happened.

When you set it down, it immediately begins lapping away without a care (there's a towel in the half open cabinet drawer that might help you out) chewing up the stew at a lightning pace.

The reason for its want is made obvious as the last of the soup disappears. At the bottom of the now empty bowl you spy... a key? A small silver key on a chain, which the wolf immediately grasps between his teeth and plods over to the upstairs door with.

It sits down and wags its tail again, as if wanting you to use it on the lock. The door was sealed shut, it seemed.

Jered -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The demon grunts loudly as you dash out of the way using your agility and strike him point blank with a blast of magic (18 damage), having partially stopped his punch as he saw you moving but was unable to restrain his momentum enough to change his course.

He is incredibly quick, however, and has turned to face towards you by the time you let loose your sword. It does scrape a wound across his chest (17 damage) enough to widen it and draw up more of that strange smoke as what seems to be his very flesh burns away, but his sheer speed is enough to cut off your chance to attack or defend and he throws an uppercut straight into your lower ribcage, sending you onto your back with a surge of pain (49 damage; guy's really damn strong). He moves to stand over you to deliver another strike to the head, but fortunately Skylia has arrived by this point and he once again is cleaved from shoulder to hip across his back by her Light-enchanted blade (100 damage; Light magic seems highly effective right now) which draws his attention away from you and to her. He swings a barrage of punches which she narrowly blocks with a magical shield while prancing backwards, but, faking another swing sends his other free hand out to seize her by the throat and cast her to the ground in a Judo-style throw (86 damage). She doesn't release her sword, but the shock of the impact is enough to KO her briefly. (Skylia stunned for 1 turn)

Before you can react much, he's already whirled back around and blasts forward propelled by a jet of shadow magic across the ground, aiming a heavy kick right at your face. That heavy boot's gonna hurt way more than that punch...

Jered - 401/450 HP (aching from the hit, but in fighting shape)
Skylia - 505/700 HP (floored and stunned)
Demon - 520/1500 HP (very mad, and attacks are still quite vicious)

Razajin -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

There's really nothing like getting paid, and killing some uptight pro-Angel jackasses. And lucky you, being the dark person you are have no shortage of work along these lines!

In mountainous Eastern Autum, you stalk the western edge of a massive forest clearing, at the center of which sits a bisieged hamlet ringed 360 degrees by flimsy wooden walls and towers. Conscripted villagers fire arrows from these towers and from reinforced rooftops at the small but murderous army of pro-Demon attackers who assault the gate to the northern side with magic, sword and arrows. The defenses hold tenuously, but you are smart enough to recognize that the duel between the strong Demon and the junior Angel is what will ultimately decide the battle. You've been just watching and waiting for a while, having been tasked by the powerful Demon to sabotage and all around destroy the village while he dealt with the frontal assault.

Of course, this is a large task, so you're not alone. Above you and to your right and left, three tiny, gangly black-skinned imps with red eyes wearing black clothing and facemasks twirl around sharp, wicked daggers in their hands, ropy and almost wire thin spike tipped tails swishing back and forth. They are not regular imps, however, having been enchanted with speed and intelligence. Indeed, one might call them... Ninja Imps! Effective but expendable assassins.

"Hey, boss, look at this loser!" the third imp, who is squatting on a tree branch above the bush you're crouched behind says in a croaky voice in reference to the (appearing seemingly out of nowhere) half-tiger looking dude who has begun to interfere with the duel between the Demon and the Angel whose name you believe is Skylia. Already the battle is turning against him.

"I say we move now. All villagers not expecting us from behind." the second imp, who stands on a rock recommends. It's a straight, about 50 yard run to the flimsy, 15 foot wooden wall which you could scale easily undetected. The imp's observation is correct as well; all of the villagers are concentrating on the north, not the west, to fend off the main army.

"Ready for stabby time, boss." the first imp (who is to your immediate left) confirms, juggling a smoke bomb in his hand.

Info - Ninja Imps: Ninja Imps may be physically weak, but their daggers are sharp, their senses are powerful and they are incredibly fast. Skilled in knife wielding, stealth, poison, lockpicking, recon and using some gadgets, they can assassinate with their daggers or throwing stars, cover retreats and blind enemies with their smoke bombs or stun with copious amounts of Paralyzing Venom. Like all Imps, they're bound to their master's will.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire walks over to the dead imp. She picks up the dagger and whipes the blood off on the ground. She puts it back in her sleeve and runs behind the creature Garian is fighting. "Need help?" she asks with a chuckle before taking a swing.

[jayjaycaps]

For the first time, the twins look at each other with different expressions. Flam gives Flim a quizzical look, saying Why not? I'm sure we could spare a few bottles... but Flim's look says We can't. A deals a deal. We are selling these in Marche, as agreed. Besides, I've got a better idea...

"So sorry, gentlemen, but it's not for sale. Not HERE, anyways..." Flam, catching on to Flim's plan, joins in. "Yes, terribly sorry and all that, but we were given strict orders from Zugong himself to only sell these in Marche..." Flim walks up nonchalantly to the skeptical man, placing one arm over his shoulder, inspecting his fingernails on his other hand. Flam follows suit, but twirling his mustache instead. "But I suppose if you came with us, we could sell them to you in Marche... After all, we would need protection, what with this being such valuable cargo and all." The two turn to look at the man, as if asking for permission. In reality, they're throwing some pretty strong magic his way.

Flim weaves some powerful mind control magic into his words this time, while Flam muddies the man's thoughts with his own magic, trying to weaken his willpower. It's clear to them that if they get this guy onto their side, the others will follow suit.

[Icaelus]

"Wolf..you pervert."
Viv's blush was only starting to fade as she reached for the towel in the cabinet, toweling off the stew from her hair.
The wolf soon finished with the stew, and a small shiny object caught her attention.. A silver key on a chain. She reached out to pick it up, her attempt foiled by the wolf once again as it snatched it up between it's teeth and walked over to the door.
"Thats the key to this door?"
Vivienne wiped off the last of the stew from her hair, dumping the stew-sodden towel into the broken crate. She walked over to stand beside the wolf, reaching her hands down to gently tug the key out of its mouth.
She pushed the silver key into the keyhole and turned clockwise.

[That_One_Guy]

Garian saw her, or him, rushing at him and decides to try and get her off balance. He places his feet firmly on the ground, holding his ground with blade held ready and, when she gets close enough, he ducks and attempts to flip her and catch her off balance.

[Reaver]

Razajin grins "stabby time indeed, I wantyou three spread out around the wall and then on my mark throw the smoke bombs before killing the acrchers. I want it fast, quiet and effecient, no mess ups or you get the rack when we get back. Now move!!" Razajin says before pulling out his curved knife and sprinting at the wall.

"and as a side note keep an eye out for any women that we can use for later celebratory parties or rituals"

[MelissaB]

Salyandra looks over the crossbow with a smirk. "And I was only going to remove a hand from each." She lets out a cold chuckle. As she listens to them explain her expressions changes from anger to annoyance. "So... at least three of you were involved... But I could only name you two. Pity. seems it's more likely the other moron that wanted this." She shakes her head hearing the chief's daughter mutter about a sandwich and unloads the crossbow bolt into Panner's chest and attempts to cast a spell to steal his essence as he dies as well.

[Zender_Solarheart]

Having recovered from his own pain, Jered has just enough time to scramble back to his feet, and see that Skylia's been thrown for quite the loop. "Son of a bitch..." he mutters, partially in surprise from the recent assault on his ally, but more out of disgust for it. By now, though, the Demon is clearly pissed, which means his judgment will be mildly hampered by the extra adrenaline.

Taking a page out of his enemy's book, Jered uses his own lightning magic like an electro-magnet, propelling his body backwards, while casting another quick bolt of lightning at the Demon's kicking leg, aiming to at least slow it down a little. Once he lands from that enhanced back-dash, Jered sheathes his blade in lightning, and prepares another Storm Wing attack, angled to "cut" at the Demon's right elbow on the attack's higher end, and the groin on its lower end. Crotch-shots may be fighting a little dirty, but all's fair in love and war...and after that Judo-slam on Skylia, Jered is a bit angry in his own right.

Once he gets a chance to cast the Storm Wing, Jered takes it, while letting out a war-cry that (to the average human's ears) sounds more like a tiger's roar.

[napsii]

Garian + Claire -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Garian's opponent doesn't fall for the trick, having been able to slow herself down and catch wind of his feint. His attempt to trip her is instead rewarded with a kick with an armored boot to the face (37 damage) that feels like it fractured a cheekbone. In any case, Garian is sent onto his back and is about to get a sword through his head until Claire steps in and takes a swing at the girl. Her attack is hasty and only scratches the woman (4 damage) but is enough to distract the woman and make her abandon her finishing blow and slam her shield into the girl's head (50 damage) which sends her staggering back a few feet, dazed. Quick as can be, the woman then attempts to bring her sword down to the floored Garian's chest in an overhead swing. Clearly she is a trained warrior and is quite motivated.

The Angel and Demon meanwhile are continuing their dance of blades and magic. The Angel's been nicked a few times by some quick but weak spells, but the odds are still in her favor. She reaches out a hand and seizes the Demon by his robe, with astounding strength tossing him over her head and into the ground with a loud grunt.

She attempts to impale him through the chest, but is met with a blinding spray of fire that sends her staggering back as the Demon struggles back to his feet...

Garian - 263/300 HP (face aches badly)
Claire - 150/200 HP (a bit dazed)
Female Warrior - 224/250 HP

Flim + Flam -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The men look a touch disappointed, having been enthralled by your sales pitch, but the suspicious man is markedly relieved as he clearly didn't want his comrades spending their money on what was ultimately a hamstring to their efforts... whatever in the world they were.

There's mixed reactions among the group at your offer, but as you might expect the general consensus is "no". They're motivated by some strong religious and personal beliefs, so it's unlikely they'd give up their position here (which seems hard enough to defend already) just to act as mercenaries.

As for your mind control magic, it has only a mild effect. Not enough to sway the man into agreeing, but he doesn't open his mouth and try and convince the others otherwise fortunately.

"I'll go. Wouldn't want some merchants getting robbed." Talkea speaks up. She wasn't a victim of your magic, so it seems this is her voluntary opinion. But thanks to your magic, she isn't met with much resistance.

"I'm a good shot with a bow and know my way around a sword." she says, stepping off the pile of crates and walking over. Her leather armor is somewhat skimpy, being only a pair of fingerless gloves and bracers, a tight fitting cuirass, a skirt and some boots, but her plain looking longbow and the shortsword belted to her hip are solid killing tools. She has plenty of arrows in her quiver.

"_{That's not all she knows her way around...}" you barely hear from one of the guys, who apparently just couldn't contain themselves.

Salyndra -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The trio in charge don't really seem at all perturbed by your sudden cold change in demeanor. If anything, they want to enforce discipline, but you see a noticeable look of distaste spread across Reila's face as you unload the crossbow into Panner's chest. Lye raises his hands to cover his face as you fire, yelping.

The bolt hits Panner dead on and impacts right into his ribs, prompting him to look down where blood has already begun to soak through his leather armor. He flicked a finger at the bolt, not even seeming visibly distressed by its presence.

"Why da people always pick 'em? Love to see 'em get shot, tho." Reila remarks. Panner's still standing as if nothing happened. What the fuck is with this guy?

"You get back to the bar, Lye. And find the guy who put you up to this." Jegen orders, and Lye gives a thankful nod before dashing out.

Panner lets out a "hmph" and looks back up at you.

"You hire too many crazies, Tinelle." he remarks calmly. With that, he strides out of the hut with the bolt still in his chest.

"Justice is soived, Saltine. Dunno why ya didn't shoot da bloody kid, tho..." Reila comments to you. Jegen and Tinelle don't seem at all surprised.

Vivienne -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

The lock clicks and clacks before you feel it give way, unlocking the door. The wolf scratches excitedly at its base before you twist the knob and open it, giving light to a narrow stone staircase that stretches upward into a small, well lit room where you hear several voices chattering. Brushing past you, the wolf crouches down and stealthily stalks up the stairs.

"What's tha-" a male voice attempts to interject, only to be drowned out by a chorus of screaming as the wolf leaps an astounding distance from the top of the stairs onto a man sitting at a table in the low-ceiling room. You can't make it out very well, but from the shadows cast onto the walls and ceiling by the orange candlelight it seems that the wolf is literally ripping to shreds the four or so guys who were evidently playing cards at the small table in the center of the room.

A few tense seconds later, the entire room -- which seems sort of just like a hangout judging from the tables, small treasure chests and piles of empty ale bottles and another staircase on the far side of the room stretching up onto another floor - is caked with blood and you see 4 bodies laying motionless. About 50 gold pieces, some random half-eaten food and a dagger buried into a dartboard are visible, along with some other miscellaneous crap in cabinets. The 2 small treasure chests are locked, though.

The wolf seems to have occupied itself with the glass cabinet near the western wall, though, and nudges it with its nose.

Inside, there's a small red cushion with a peculiar looking item on it: an elaborately decorated chalice made of some type of gleaming white metal with two handles carefully sculpted to look like dragons with Holy Crosses for horns. It's embossed with designs of vines and angels, but most notably it seems to be filled to the brim with a luminescent white and blue liquid. It looks like liquid Soul Essence and a lot of it... but the cabinet is locked and looks too tough to break through. The wolf begins sniffing around for a key, its fur stained with blood.

Jered -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Your initial bolt sizzles rather ineffectively against the demon (6 damage), who being propelled by shadow magic and being pissed doesn't shirk away from the attack. Your backwards evasion manages to put you out of the way of most of the harm, but the charging kick still impacts you straight in the chest (35 damage) which sends pains through your ribs. Nothing broken, thankfully, and although the attack is rough you still collect yourself to cast your Storm Wing immediately after. Not wanting to break his offensive the Demon simply takes it in stride with a loud grunt despite the obvious damage done to him (78 damage) but you have little time to follow up with another attack as he immediately dashes forward again and throws a one-two at you, hitting you in the stomach and in the jaw which sends you staggering back (65 damage). Your injuries are somewhat minor but are starting to take an effect on you...

Skylia, meanwhile, is still on her ass stunned, but she looks to be recovering quickly enough to be back in her feet in a few moments.

Jered - 301/450 HP (in decent shape)
Skylia - 505/700 HP (stunned)
Demon - 436/1500 HP (looking pretty bad, keep it up)

Razajin -

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

"Yeah, you got it boss..." the imps all say in unison. They can't really defy your will.

You sprint towards the wall undetected as the defenders are all concentrated to the north rather than the west where you are approaching from, seeing the Demon who recruited you is beating the ass of the tiger man who decided to intervene quite heavily, although he looks in bad shape himself. Better do as much damage as possible quickly just in case.

The three imps following alongside you leap onto the wall and climb to the top quickly, signaling to you that the coast is clear before leaping over. You likewise neatly scale the wall and end up near the western edge of the hamlet, ending up in a miniature cul de sac with six tiny buildings in it: three small, boarded up houses, a small blacksmith, a house-sized outdoor shrine to the Angels (the imps shy away from this, perhaps due to the Light magic radiating from it) and a small tool shed. Directly ahead of you there's a narrow dirt street, in the middle of which there's a ramshackle, 20 foot tall tower with a single archer firing arrows from it. It overlooks the rest of the defenders to the north, and a small ladder facing the road is probably an easy way to access it.

"Nobody here, boss..." the imps report, although one of them had already stealthily run up to the tower, scaled the ladder and killed the archer with a quick slice of the dagger. The Soul Essence from the target is transferred to you (+5 SE) but there's not much.

To the north of that tower, there's rows upon rows of armored houses with about 20 archers firing from them in total in groups of 2 and 3, and just ahead of that, the northern wall with hammer and spear wielding peasants beating back the attackers from the ramshackle gate. The narrow spaces between the buildings populated only by grass and miscellaneous objects are an easy way to get behind them undetected, no doubt.

While it's daytime, it is overcast and the defenders are concentrated elsewhere, so it should be an easy feat to attack them from behind.

[That_One_Guy]

Garian quickly rolls out of the way, picking up his sword and sends several fireballs her way with his left hand before following up right behind his last fireball with a uppercut with his blade.

[TheDaughterOfHades14]

Claire shakes her head as she is dazed. She throws two daggers at the girl. She then splits her sword and charges again.

[Reaver]

Razajin scans the the battlefield from the top of the tower. He sees the group of archers and further down the ramble of peasants holding the gates against the attackers and to the other direction the battle between the demon, the angel and the newcomer that seems to be helping the angel. Razajin decides to finish off the defenders holding the town first before going out to help the demon. As Razajin climbs down the ladder he channels his shadow magic, forming an aura around him and his imps to better cloak them and give them a boost of speed to complete this objective faster. As he reaches the ground he tells the imps "okay we're going to clear out the defenders holding the gate so we are going to take the alleyways until we reach a group of archers which we can dispatch quite easily then move from there to the main gate where you three will throw smoke bombs to blind and confuse the enemies while i finish them with these (holding up the the punch daggers). Then we shall open the gates for the rest of the demons and join the Demon commander in his attack against that bitch angel and her jackass newcomer that decided to join in the fray. Now lets hurry up and get moving."

[jayjaycaps]

The twins look at each other again, but this time they are in agreement: Not what they expected, but they'll take what they can get.

When they turn back to the group, it's all smiles again. "Wonderful, wonderful! So nice of you to join us, Talkea! And such a wonderful name, too! Talkea! A beautiful name for a beautiful woman, am I right, brother?" "Right you are, brother!" Flim turns back to the men with mock saddness. "And so sorry you couldn't join us gentlemen. We'll try to save you boys a bottle or two for when we come back..." "That is, unless we sell it all! I mean after all, who couldn't resist Zugong's Zip?" "Right again, brother. Now then Talkea, shall we?"

Flim and Flam both step down and rush over to Talkea, both getting onto one knee, removing their hats and holding out their free hands to assist Talkea onto the wagon.

[Icaelus]

"Geez, what's the hurry?"
Vivienne felt the wolf brush past her knee, padding up the staircase into some well-lit room..
She moved a bit more cautiously..voices could be heard up there..Several men chatting, probably.
Viv tried to signal to the move, trying to get it to stop. No point in alerti-
The screaming began. All from the men..just snarls from the wolf.
Her gray eyes widened. What had she done? Wolves were wolves, no matter how much they behaved like dogs..
Vivienne continued on against her better instinct..the wolf was feral when it came to killing..that was for sure.
"My..god."
Viv paled at the gory sight. All four men were dead, their blood everywhere..
She cast a sharp look at the wolf, slowly drawing her shortsword. Better to watch where she stepped from now on..
The wolf ignored the drawing of her sword, instead continuing on to the western wall where a glass cabinet was, nudging it with its nose.
Viv moved slowly towards the glass cabinet, examining the item inside. A intricate white chalice filled with.. Soul Essence?
Her cloudy eyes widened again. How did someone even collect Soul Essence?
She threw a sharp look at the wolf, who was now sniffing around for something.. A key, maybe? That cabinet did look pretty tough.

[MelissaB]

Salyandra stared dumbfounded at Panner's lack of reaction even more so when he talks and then walks off. "Hold on a bloody second. Why isn't he dead?" pointing to where Panner used to be. "No that isn't correct... the man took a bolt to the chest as if it was a pin prick. At point blank range the thing should of knocked him off his feet and killed him instantly due to the force of it!" Salyandra throws the crossbow to the ground in anger. She took a deep breath trying to calm herself before she did something stupid. "Okay... I'll ignore the fact the man should be dead... but that thing didn't even phase him what kind of discipline enforcing is that if he doesn't even suffer any consequences?" She gripped the hilt of her sword tightly trying to disperse some of her anger at the fact she was conned out of her vengeance.

[Zender_Solarheart]

Jered grits his teeth on the kick to his chest, and after seeing the Demon tank through his Storm Wing, has little time to even twitch from the mild surprise, before the one-two punches rattle his senses for a moment. The impact to his jaw causes his teeth to briefly scrape at the right side of his mouth, and while the blood drawn is negligible, he still takes an instant to spit it out.

The Demon himself, however, has clearly suffered considerable punishment, and the fact that he'd charge through such an attack to continue the offensive suggests one of two things. Either he realizes the danger he's in, and is pouring all that he has left into the attack...or he's simply a victim of hubris, and refuses to acknowledge that a "mere mortal" has held his own this well. Either way, the damage he's suffered so far must be draining energy from his mind to power his muscles, even if just a little...

(I don't think taunting him is a good idea right now, though...)

Deciding to try something a little new, Jered uses the electro-magnetic boost from earlier to enhance an upward jump, while readying another Storm Wing attack poised for the Demon's head. This time, he aims the strike to descend along a shallow curve, so that even if the Demon darts backward to evade, it will still impact him in the chest, where many of his wounds seem to be. With all those injuries, the electricity should have a better time getting to his heart, which just might put him into cardiac arrest...though, if Jered's not that lucky, he may need Skylia to bail him out again...