Hexa gives Ahto a toothy grin, seeing a use in not killing Talkers by making them a prize instead. "'Ressel is prize." The thought of dragging her before Oleg made his scales dance.
He needed more strength, he closed his eyes and called upon his connection with nature :Make me swift, make me like a thylaccine..:. As the natural world responded His body changed granting him a sleek and efficient form...
As Hexa made for hiding behind a Tree, aiming his bow at the enemy camp Tal started to change as well. Her body becoming more sleek and dexterous like her master. Her lithe form appeared strange as hair started to grow from her back, started from the base of her curved horn and running down to the tip of her tail.
She however didn't move, seeing as Hexa hadn't called her to do anything yet. Instead she remained, crouched behind the fallen logs.
Ahto's decree silences Kressle's rant. For a moment, the camp is overtaken by loud muttering from the men that is cut off by one last shout from Kressle.
"Just kill them, you clods!"
The bandit on the platform, having found his bow, tries to nock an arrow and steady his aim.
However, Hexa's readied arrow strikes him before he can even draw back the bowstring, plunging deeply into his chest.
He flops back onto the platform, his bow clattering across the planks and down to the forest floor.
Aris
Sams
Bandit (Blue)
Wonky
Bandit (Orange)
Hexa
Ahto
Bandit (Red)
Tal
Sprocket
Paval
Kressle
Whether by lingering intoxication or intimidation from Kressle, the bandits seem emboldened and are not frightened by their much larger former comrade.
One of them charges forth with a hoarse bellow, aiming his sword for Sams' sizeable shin.
The jumbo brawler, however, clonks the reckless attacker with a mighty fist, nearly knocking the breath from his chest.
The opportunistic blow sends the bandit's swing wide, the blade cutting only into the nearby tree trunk.
A second bandit slips around a tree stump and moves beside Sams, winding up a sword stroke of his own.
This strike is on mark, the blade nipping into Sams' calf.
However, just as he completes his attack, he is pelted in the shoulder by the stone bullet loosed from Wonky's readied shot.
Bandit (Orange) uses move action to reach Sams, attacks with Longsword, inflicts 4 damage on Sams.
Wonky's shot, converted into a readied action because the watchpost bandit is unconscious, strikes Bandit (Orange) and inflicts 2 damage.
Aris had used the spell she'd put on Sams frequently in her library as a way to reach the top shelves, but as she watches the already-big man walk into the middle of the bandit's camp, she's suddenly aware of just how vulnerable she is in her robe and jacket. She ducks behind the nearby wagon and begins to will an eagle into existence.
Emerging from behind his tree he takes aim, hoping to catch another of their enemies with his arrows flight.
He gives a command to Tal and is denied when she ducks her head behind the fallen logs instead. Shuddering from the sudden sounds and yelling coming from around her. Tal scared, good to be scared, Hexa show her to be strong! He takes aim at the bandits but Sams mighty swings and huge form made him think better of it. Seeing one bandit hanging back he fires at the oddly not male banditsel
Hexa's arrow flies wide of its mark, and the targeted bandit hops over a log laid beside the dead campfire.
Drawing his sword as he moves, he jogs over to flank Sams.
"I never liked you, you freakish imbecile," he growls, aiming upward at Sams' right arm.
He thrusts the sword, nearly skewering Sams' large forearm.
Tal, spooked by the apparent danger, hunches down behind the foliage and fallen log.
Sprocket, as previously commanded, clings closely to Aris. However, the dog barks and jumps futilely at the conjured eagle.
Aris's eagle flies up and away from her, beginning to circle the battlefield in search of prey.
Unable to reach the melee just yet Paval runs forwards, blade in hand.
Kressle, seeing Sams' new friends approaching the camp, circles around the firepit to put the large melee between her and these reinforcements.
As she moves, she draws a dagger from her belt, then pauses to hurl it towards Sams.
The thrown dagger plunges into Sams' chest.
His wounds overcome the mighty brawler, putting him into shock, and he topples over, unconscious.
His large body crashes through nearby branches, many sharp snapping sounds heralding his fall.
Aris suppresses a scream as Sams goes down and begins heading toward the battle. A small part of her is filled with concern that he's in danger, while another, larger part is frustrated that he's taken her spell and done exactly the wrong thing with it. Still, it's too far for her to do much with her spells, and all she can do is try to be in position soon.
Her eagle, however, has no such problems. It plunges from the sky, attacking the closest bandit in a ball of feathers, fury, and talons.
The summoned eagle plunges down to attack the bandit, raking the arm raised in defense with at least one set of talons.
”Bugger! He didn’t crush the loot, did he?” one of the other bandits (blue) calls out.
He steps around Sams’ large, prone form and slips past his comrade beset by the eagle.
In his attempt to investigate something under the platform, damaged by Sams’ fall, he is scratched in passing by the eagle's thrashing talons.
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Sprocket races after Aris, his only thought to protect the elf as per Wonky's command. Unfortunately, he has not been alerted to the snares specifically....
Wonky breathes in from her perch, then breathes out as a means to calm herself before letting loose another stone bullet at one of the bandits by the fallen Sams.
Sprocket's slobbering growls turn into a sharp yelp as he finds himself yanked violently from the ground.
The dog flails about in midair, trying to free himself from the snare that caught his leg.
Wonky's shot lands, striking the orange bandit in the stomach.
Undeterred by the stone bullets striking from an unseen sniper, and his confidence yet bolstered by the felled Sams, the orange bandit braces his sword and charges at Ahto.
However, with a quick sidestep, Ahto leaves the bandit cutting naught but thin air.
Ahto's shot strikes the bandit at the shoulder where his armor is thickest, and the layers of leather keep the sharp bolt from piercing his own hide.
Seeing Sams go down didn't phase Hexa, he moved from cover and headed eastward. Using the terrain and his bow to his advantage as his claws dug into the earthy ground with ease. When he stopped he was just south of a distracted bandit. So close to them that he was able to aim clearly at vital areas, though killing them today wasn't his aim...
He loosed a barbed arrow at the Bandit struggling with the eagle. Hopeful to bring them down cleanly and to also embolden Tal to fight now that he had left her sight...
He shouted over the sound of combat, urging Tal to fight...
Hexa's arrow strikes the bandit in the back, piercing his armor cleanly.
He staggers, still conscious but struggling to keep awake as he weakly reaches for the arrow lodged below his shoulder blade.
He stumbles over to Kressle, begging for help.
Tal is spurred on by Hexa’s commands and the turning tide of battle. The small dinosaur storms through the light underbrush and attacks the bandit near Ahto.
Her whip-like tail lashes against the orange bandit, rattling his bones and bruising his ribs.
Seeing Sams drop was bad, the poor sod didn't deserve it. Yet Paval also couldn't help but himself himself regretting the giant oaf didn't drop on any of the bandits.
With that thought in mind he circled around the closest bandit, the one being attacked by the weird lizard's weird lizard, and attacked.
Paval's blade effortlessly penetrates the bandit's armor and skewers him through the chest.
With nary a gasp, he slumps to the ground, dropping his weapon.
Kressle brusquely brushes off her mortally wounded underling. She heads towards a break in the trees near the rear of the camp, drawing another dagger as she moves.
She hurls the dagger towards Hexa on the other side of the camp, and the blade pierces his scales and sinks into his chest.
"Zmrazit'!"
Aris picks her way down the path, pulling snow out of her memories and into her already cupped hand. It's no ordinary snowball a child in Port Ice would throw, but a spiky mass of ice and cold that bites at her hand even as she hurls it toward the nearest bandit.
The eagle makes a short hop onto the closest bandit to it as well, lashing out with its claws again and ripping flesh.
The magical ice smashes against the bandit. His armor absorbs some of the frozen shards, but he is able to resist being staggered by the arcane chill.
However, the summoned eagle is far more unforgiving. In a storm of talons, the raptor tears at the bandit's neck and face.
The pain and blood loss are too much, and he collapses to the dirt.
While the bandit near Aris seems likely to survive his injuries, the other felled bandits are still bleeding to death.
Hexa felt the blades bite and screeched in response, his hoarse laughter would have scared off birds with its pitch. "Bes' you do? HA HA!" His words were followed by his laughter, he enjoyed this hunt e=immensely and an injury made it more worthwhile!
He takes out his symbol calling upon his divine connection to nature and his goddess, healing his wound some and letting it heal over, becoming another puffy red patch on his scarred scales. The dagger falling to the moss covered earth as he continued his pursuit. 'Ressel will be good prize, fights fiercely. Face will kiss earth before Chief Oleg! He takes cover behind a tree, Bow in hand as he calls to Tal, ordering her to fight on against the remaining bandits.
She stood over the downed bandit, exhaling harshly at the fallen and bleeding enemy before raising her head at Hexa's throaty laugh. She tilts her head and makes a loud call in response before following Hexa's call. She storms towards the next upright bandit...
Stricken by divine power, Kressle finds herself rooted in place.
Seeing his comrades felled and a dinosaur approaching, the red bandit drops to his knees.
"Please don't kill me," he blubbers through the pain, seemingly begging Tal for mercy.
Sprocket, seeing Wonky approach, whimpers for help as he continues to thrash against the snare.
With most bandits down and one begging for his life all that remained was their leader. Paval moved closer but not too close, he didn't want to give her the chance to slice him before he got a chance at her. Besides, Ahto's magic seemed to keep her in place.
He talks to the begging bandit as he moves, his eyes never leaving Kressle. "Maybe if you beg hard enough she won't eat you."
The remaining ordinary bandit redoubles his pleading, too frightened of death to realize the ludicrousness of begging a dinosaur for mercy.
Judging from the sincerity and desperation of his pleas, it seems likely that he does not recognize a herbivore before him.
"Sniveling coward," Kressle hisses, drawing a pair of handaxes. She holds her weapons in a defensive stance, preparing for an attack.
Hexa laughs throatily at the bandits pleas, they were lost on him. This was for Chief Oleg and Svetlana, Hexa wouldn't "Tal! Riliw jacion!!" Hexa shouted, calling Tal to strike the Red Bandit down in their 'playful way'. He'd take no chances with those that harmed Svetlana and if the man was sturdy enough he'd live... Maybe...
The thought made him laugh more.
Seeing 'Ressel's defensive posture he takes a shot with his bow.
Tal continued advancing on Hexa's upright enemies but when he called out to her she gave a shrill call back to him. Acknowledging his command she started stomping up to the pleading Bandit her hips swaying before she tries and strikes him with the thickest part of her tail.
Wonky's words calm Sprocket somewhat. He no longer thrashes around, though he still whimpers for help. Small globs of dog spittle drip down like dew.
Hexa's aim is true, but Kressle quickly crosses her axes and the arrow ricochets of their broad steel heads, the broken projectile strikes the ground in two pieces.
She meets Ahto's ultimatum with a twisted grin.
"I am several cuts above these wretches. I will not submit to Rostland's dogs."
Tal's tail slices through the air but strikes nothing.
The bandit prostrates himself on the ground, cowering down and evading the attack.
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Aris moves past the downed bandits, trying not to focus on their injuries. Instead, she finds a place with one of the big logs and the fire between her and Kressle, the better to keep the bandit leader at bay, and begins conjuring another ball of ice and cold. "Zmrazit'"
The eagle moves its assault toward Kressle as well, swooping in and trying to get a talon past her defenses.
Paval cautiously steps around the firepit like a true duelist, keeping Kressle always before his eyes while trying to circle behind her.
Feeling the divine power no longer shackling her, Kressle lunges toward Ahto, swinging both handaxes with considerable strength.
Kressle’s first powerful swing is parried by the inquisitor, his sword nearly wrenching the axe from her grasp.
The second, follow-up strike lands a hands-breadths beneath Ahto’s right arm, the keen axehead slicing through the mail beneath his armor and biting into his side.
Aris’s snowball explodes against Kressle’s back, and the magic penetrates through her thick studded leather, the cold clutching at her muscles.
The eagle attacks the stunned bandit leader, its talons leaving terrible bloody gashes across her back and scalp.
Kressle curses at her wounds, but for now the pain seems to simply be fueling her bloodlust.
"Tal! Pok! " Hexa Smiles toothily upon seeing the Bandit on his back. Stepping out from behind the tree as he shouted for Tal to break off her attack. Kressel was a strong opponent, one he'd enjoy as a prize to present to Oleg.
"'Ressel s'tong! But Hexa s'tonger" He says this as he comes out from behind the tree and moves to engage her in hand to hand combat. Though Ahto gets there first. Seeing his actions Hexa uses the back of his scaled hand to slap Kressel hard across the jaw. They wanted her alive after all...
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Surely his wound sends adrenaline pulsing through Ahto's veins, for the Abadaran unleashes one of the mightiest blows he's ever dealt.
Had he not used the flat of his sword, it seems likely his strike could have cleaved the bandit leader in twain.
Kressle and three of her bandits now sprawl unconscious before you within their own camp.
The fourth bandit cowers against a log bench, staving off both fear and death.
Though Sams was badly wounded, and other injuries were suffered, the battle is won.