As Felix and Magan hide themselves and Kara and Gawen build their campfire, Pen speeds around the area knocking things over in excitement, before vanishing into the undergrowth. While Gawen looks around for the dog, a thick pillar of smoke begins to rise above the tree tops as Kara feeds the fire with leaves and other foliage... about half an hour later Pen comes dashing back around the corner, with five armed men hot on his tail.
Seeing the men arrive, Magan will spring up and unleash 2 throwing axes at a man who is not engaged in melee.
Taking his shield and battle axe out in the blink of an eye he will lock eyes with his next victim.
Braces herself with her shield, and then will stab her spear at the closest one to her
Felix waits patiently for the first man to get into combat with Kara, then shoots forward and lunges at the man's back with both of his daggers.
His sling out currently, Prasutagus will halve the distance between himself and the fire, then let his sling bullet fly at the closest foe not engaged in melee.
As soon as Pen appears Gawen whistles for the dog, calling him closer. When he sees the armed men in pursuit, he grimaces then raises his staff to the sky and closes his eyes for a long second. When he opens them again they are misted and cloudy. He mutters a couple of words softly under his breath.
Aurelius closes rapidly on the approaching group of men, but Prasutagus's swing is wide and the pebble dashes off of the hard-trodden earthen road in a cloud of dust.
The sky above is grey and as clouded as Gawen's eyes. In the distance, thunder can be heard dully rolling across the hills as he lifts his staff and an eagle's cry echoes across the trees.
Pen's pursuers are caught off guard by the sudden sight of a warhorse and an armoured shield maiden. Nevertheless, they charge out of instinct when they realise that they themselves are under attack.
Magan's axes come flying out of the undergrowth like bolts from the Gods as the first man passes, catching him completely off guard. It takes significant vigour for him to avoid being wounded by the first, but the second axe scrapes a bloody gash across his torso.
Felix appears as if from nowhere as he slips out of the bushes to stab the man in the back with his twin knives... but lunges to early and his target is no longer standing where he aimed.
The charging man ploughs on into Kara, casting her spear-point aside with the buckler in his off-hand and swinging at her with the axe in the other.
Any other in the group would have been in serious danger, but the axe simply clinks off of Kara's broad metal shield.
Upon the appearance of further combatants, the other men change their tactics, moving to engage Felix and Magan.
Felix is lucky and manages to avoid the first blow entirely, while his armour barely protects him from the second. Meanwhile Magan is not so lucky and takes two blows, the first of which was very nearly lethal.
It takes all of Magan's vigour to keep fighting and one axe wounds his leg.
Annoyed that his strike went wide, Felix goes for a second volley of jabs on the same target.
Growls as her spear is swept aside and she changes to her battle axe, swing at the man in front of her. Hopefully the massive blade will find it's mark.
Prasutagus knocks one of the men attacking Magan sideways with his rapid ride-by-attack, but it's a glancing strike at best.
Felix's first strike is deflected by his target's studded leather armour, but the second finds its mark. A low blow ripping upwards from the knee-pit, it hamstrings the man leaving him staggered.
Nevertheless, Kara's swing with her battleaxe is wide and fails to finish him.
"Pen! Ymosodwch!" shouts Gawen, gesturing at the men attacking Magan.
The dog lunges at the man who damaged Magan, snarling.
Meanwhile, the summoned eagle drops towards one of the men and rakes at him with a claw.
As this happens, Gawen himself raises his sling and, whirling it above his head, attempts to loose a bullet towards the nearest foe .
Gawen successfully wraps his sling around his face. Nothing is hurt but his dignity and a tree somewhere to his right where the stone landed.
The man attacking Magan successfully ducks the eagle's claws, looking up in horror as he wonders where the beast came from. Meanwhile Pen takes this opportunity to lunge for the man's ankles, forcing him to dance about as he fends the mutt off.
Feeling pressed, Magan takes up a more defensive stance shield forward, limiting his ability to swing.
His swing is ineffective but does help to keep some distance between him and the attackers.
The wounded man swings desperately at Kara, delivering deep wound to her torso, before himself passing out from the exertion.
His two companions sidle about Felix to take him from both sides. The thief is able to deflect one easily, but has to exert himself to avoid a wound from the second.
Distracted as they are by Prasutagus, Pen and Gawen's summoned eagle, Magan's foes are unable to coordinate to flank him, and his tactical fighting is able to hold them off for now.
Prasutagus lines up another charge on an outside target and tries to hit and run again.
Felix takes a quick glance around to assess his situation and decides to tumble past the mercenary closest to him so that he and Kara are flanking the man, and proceeds to strike with both of his daggers with vicious intent.
Magan continues to focus more on fending off his attackers than pressing his own advantage, but takes a moment to study the movements of the man in front of him before eventually letting out a strike of his own. Again forcing the man back rather than making any contact.
Gawen pulls the sling from his face with a grunt and lets it fall to the floor. Seeing the blood on Kara, he grasps his quarterstaff with both hands and advances carefully towards the men attacking Kara. When he's within striking range, he raises his staff and strikes at one of them.
Meanwhile, Pen and the summoned eagle continues to harry Magan's attackers.
Swings her axe into the one between her and Felix, hoping to smash his face in
Felix glances at Kara's bleeding sides worryingly, lets out a sigh and braces for a new round of beating.
Prastuagus's target is already worn out after fending off the first pass and Pen's savage assault on his ankles. He fails to avoid the worst of the blow and the charge skewers him badly in the leg. It seems unlikely he can take another hit.
Felix's first strike is yet again wide, but the second drives home, ducking the man's guard and also slashing a small gash in the leg.
The rest are less successful. Kara fails to even make contact with her axe, Pen misses completely and Gawen's staff finds only armour. Gawen's summoned eagle also grasps uselessly at the studded leather with its talon, before taking off back into the forest with a caw. Magan is equally unsuccessful.
Having seen one of their number fall, the men attempt to consolidate their position. Aurelius charging through their ranks has made them nervous. The man with the injured leg takes a step closer to his comrade, swinging uselessly at Pen as he goes. The other attempts to fend off Magan, but his blow doesn't pass the Saxon's shield.
The other two also attempt to come together, in an effort to prevent Felix from getting behind them. They stand besides each other, both swinging at the rogue who has seemed the more deadly fighter so far. His armour stops one blow, but the other costs him some vigour to avoid a wound.
Seeing that his attackers re-positioned themselves for protection, Felix gestures for Gawen and Kara to do the same and regain their flank advantage. Felix readies his attack for when his party is in position once more.
Seeing Felix step into the more advantages spot, she moves along, maintaining a flank as she swings again with her axe at the one Felix has been hitting.
Seeing the battle turning, Magan springs from his defensive position into a more offensive one, hoping to catch his his foe s off guard. From his low position he swings up with both axe and shield. Aiming his axe at the injured foe and shield at the fresher man
Seeing a slight opening in the defensive openings of the healthy man, Magan loses focus to his left and his axe is knocked clean from his hand by his opponent's buckler. His shield lands a solid blow though, winding the man considerably
Prasutagus lines up another charge, going for the same person.
Gawen moves up and swipes again with his staff.
Pen also continues to attack, snarling as he leaps at the men.
Prasutagus rounds on the injured man, but he is ready this time and ducks the spear.
Felix hits home with both daggers, jabbing one up under a seam in the armour between two ribs, while the other he plunges straight into the man's right eye socket. He screams in pain and horror, but is quickly cut off as Kara's axe cuts deep into his thigh, severing the femoral artery. He falls to the ground, dead.
Gawen advances on their remaining enemy, knocking him back with his staff, while Pen continues to harass those fighting Magan, though he fails to sink his teeth in.
Seeing his companion so brutally killed, the man fighting Gawen and Felix withdraws from combat and makes to run back to the quarry.
The men fighting Magan try to press their advantage as he loses his axe, surrounding the Saxon and swinging at him relentlessly with axe and mace, but neither can pass his steadfast shield.
Pulling his daggers away from the dead body of the mercenary, Felix winks at Kara from behind his mask and turns to chase down the man that's now running away. He shouts after the fleeing man:
"Stopiwch rhedeg! Neu byddaf sleisio oddi ar eich rhannau'r corff un ar y tro!"
As an incentive, Felix launches himself at the man with a charge and attempts digs one of him daggers into his back.
Lulled out her bow, losing an arrow at the man with his back to her, facing off with Magam
Silly trying to run...
Prasutagus charges at the fleeing man.
Gawen sees the man fleeing and briefly considers sending Pen after him, but then Prastagus and Aurelius thunder past towards the retreating figure and Gawen turns back to the men attacking Magan, advancing with his quarterstaff held at the ready.
He swipes at the nearest man, but the blow is cleanly deflected by armour.
Pen slinks around the back of the man facing Magan and makes another lunge for his legs.
Prasutagus skewers the fleeing man in the back, dealing a deep and nasty wound. Felix is not far behind and his dagger catches a leg.
Kara's shot is wide, but Pen manages to get another deep bite in on the injured man he's been harassing, leaving him bleeding heavily. Meanwhile, Magan's shield spike pushes through his foe's leathers, wounding the hip.
The fleeing man panics and tries to run. Felix swings at him as he goes, but isn't fast enough.
The heavily wounded man realises that Gawen is behind him and turns, swinging wildly with his mace, scoring a blunt hit. Somehow he manages to stay on his own feet despite the blood loss. The man Magan has skewered on his shield also retaliates, but the Saxon stay behind it, battering his foe back.
Felix watches as the man legs for it, he realises that he will probably never catch him this way and turns his attention to Magan and his attackers. Felix shouts:
"Magan! He's getting away too fast, shoot him down!"
Felix positions close to healthier looking attacker of the two and holds his attacks until one of his party could flank the attacker with him.
Hearing the chance to flank, she would move in with felix taking up her spear and stabbing with it.
Thou shalt not flee from me...
Prasutagus runs Aurelius forward and hurls his spear at the fleeing man.
Seeing the problem, Magan takes a step back, whistling for Ealing who begins her run towards him
Magan has to drop his axe in order to hold on to Ealing as he jumps onto the horse as as she runs past.
Pen and Gawen continue to press their respective foes.
Whilst Gawen's blow is again caught by his opponent's armour, Pen dodges a kick from the other man and manages to sink his teeth into a leg. The dog's lupine ancestry is briefly apparent as he tugs his head back and leaves a large bloody gash in the man's leg.
Felix gives Pen the thumb up amidst his stabbing.
"Good Boy! That's another piece of jerky for you later!"
Prasutagus' spear clatters uselessly to the ground, the point snapping under the impact.
Felix's slips past the men fighting Magan and as he gets in close his knives dig in deep under the ribs of the closer man. Blood pours from the deep wounds in a river.
Kara's stab is wide and sails by her heavily wounded foe.
Pen's teeth rip deeply into the arteries of the man's leg. He is on death's door.
He swings his axe wildly at the poor dog, but fails to beat him off and promptly passes out due to heavy blood loss. His companion desperately tries to beat Felix off with his mace. He misses, but manages to stay on his feet.
Felix stabs last standing attacker.
Felix's final dagger strike rips open the femoral artery and the man falls lifeless to the ground.
With the nearby enemies slain or downed, Gawen quickly casts his eye over his companions to ensure none of them are in critical need of aid, before turning to the downed enemies in front of him.
Seeing the man before him has suffered sever blood loss, he pulls out his sickle and cuts a few strips of cloth from the man's clothes. He tightly wraps the makeshift bandages around the wounds, attempting to stem the blood loss.
The thin cloth is quickly saturated with blood, but does little to stem the flow.
Magan urges Ealing forwards, sliding his shield onto his back with the speed of one who has done this many times. His arm reaches up and finds his bow as he passes Prasutagus.
"Ar y chwith"
A grin spreads across his face as he passes the running man, notches an arrow and lets it fly.
The speed of the horse meant Magan never really expected the arrow to go anywhere close to the man, but he hoped that seeing it in the ground in front of him may bring him pause.
Ealing pulls up across the path, the shield is already back in Magan's hand as he issues the threat:
"Ar y ddaear, efallai na fyddwch chi'n dioddef yr un dynged â'ch ffrindiau"
.
.
.
"On the ground and you may not suffer the same fate as your friends"
Seeing Magan coming to head the man off Prasutagus pulls out another spear and rides forward to blockade the man.
Noticing that her companions seem to be able to handle the man running, she tries to save the one she can, helping Gawen. She puts pressure on the wound, trying to stop the bleeding.
The extra bandages help and Kara manages to staunch the flow of blood from the wounded thigh.
Faced by two mounted warriors blocking the path in front of him, the man fleeing back towards the camp at the quarry stumbles forwards and drops hopelessly to his knees.