On The Back Foot

As everyone battled their own share of brigands, Moze was doing his job of keeping the majority of them focused on himself. He deflected blows with sword and shield alike, taking opportunities to make a quick strike or deliver a crippling smite in the rare instance where an opening presented itself. Cutting down another bandit, he made a quick dash for it, keeping the group on him as he attempted to separate them from both their allies, and his own. Though he did sustain a few hits, he still remained in decent condition, missing only a quarter of his hit points.

Still, valiant as the party was, one thing remained clear. They were still heavily outnumbered. Ember managed to drop a couple more foes, but at least ten still remained on him. Another seven accosted Thordon and Maggie, and a good fifteen had their attention set on Moze. Lian meanwhile continued fighting her own battle with the two archers on the towers. Missing a third of her hit points, she finally managed to land a shot in the chest of one of the archers, accompanying two others that effectively finished him off. Now with one remaining, Lian was eager to take him out so that she may finally turn her bow onto the enemies below and give her allies much needed covering fire.

With his men keeping the intruders locked in combat, Roger and his bodyguard calmly strode across the battlefield. Unlike the party, these two were spoiled for choice. Roger’s gaze wandered across the battlefield like he was at a boutique looking for some clothes to try on. It would appear that the rogue was rather full of it after all.

“Well Kregor, guess I got a bit too excited there. Looks like our boys got this handled.” He said, lazily gazing over the combat. “Then again, my weapons are already in my hands. How about we go for the loudmouth who thinks he’s a big shot.”

Just as his gaze was wandering over to Moze, he was suddenly hit with a sharp pain in his back followed by intense nausea. Holding his stomach, he and Kregor turned to see the elf standing there, her dager coated in a purple poison and her visage wearing a wide toothy grin.

“Get’n a little cocky there, aintchya big guy? You forget all about little ol’ me?” Ruori taunted.

“Haha, well damn, if it ain't the little elf. Thought you hauled it to the hills the second your buddies crashed the scene.” He said, attempting to straighten himself up despite the poison chipping away at his health.

“What, and leave that pretty little face of yours behind? What can I say, I like symmetry, and I think you’d look better if your left eye matched your right.” She mocked.

“Damn, you really know how to make a nuisance of yourself, rat. C’mon then, go ahead and cut it out, if you think you can.” He said, raising his axe and shield.

Following his boss, his silent giant of a bodyguard drew his battle axe as Ruori prepared to take them both on. She began with a quick toss of one of the many throwing knives along her belt, plinking off of Kregor’s armor and dealing only a tiny sliver of damage. It wasn’t much, but the rogue was already on the move. Kregor took a swing at Ruori but the nimble fighter ducked low, dodging the axe before stabbing the big man in the side between his armor. Though this did slightly more damage than the throwing knife, more important was the sudden wave of nausea that overcame Kregor as his health began to tick down. Still, the goliath would not be stopped so easily. He took another swing at the rogue who had moved out of range before Roger circled around Kregor. Shield out, Roger rushed Ruori who attempted to evade him, but a quick lunge saw to it that his axe clipped her leg, dealing about an eighth of her hit points in damage. Twirling to get back to her proper footing, she tossed another dagger that Roger deflected with his shield. She then made a quick dash forward, dodging around Roger’s next swing in an effort to get in close, however, as she tried, Kregor managed to circle back around Roger and take a swing at her, forcing her to jump back once more.

Ruori looked between the two men standing before her. She knew full well that as a rogue, engaging in a head to head fight like this was well beyond what her skillset was built to do. Still, the important thing to her was that she was keeping these two heavy hitters busy. She would be lying if she were to claim that the synergy these two possessed while fighting didn’t have her worried, but so long as she could continue dodging their attacks, she might give these other players a chance to turn the tides of their own battles.

Back on the cliff up above, Lian was still engaging the final archer. She had taken a couple more hits, leaving her with only about a quarter of her hit points left. Still, it had also allowed her the opportunity to land a few more clean hits on the remaining opponent. Despite that, the girl looked on in frustration. Frustration with herself and frustration with the remaining archer. She was beginning to run low on arrows, she had missed too many shots. Making matters worse, she knew full well that she had wasted too much time on them. Her mind raced with thoughts, wondering what it was she was doing wrong, but struggled to snap out of it as her self doubt was only distracting her. The fact was, she needed to finish this fight now as she could see full well the struggles taking place down below. Thordon was on his last legs, putting himself between the bandits and Maggie and taking blows in her place. Meanwhile, she struggled to keep him healed as he slowly cut down a couple more bandits. Ember meanwhile had been pushed back behind the tents as well, doing everything he could to keep the bandits off of the casters. Moze was also still dealing with overwhelming odds, spending more time defending than attacking. Finally, the Rogue had returned to the fray, battling two bulky, armored bandits on her own with little success. Whether she liked it or not, the tides of this battle rested on her, if only she could give some covering fire.

She stepped out of cover once more, making herself a tempting target for the archer as she aimed her shot. The enemy archer obliged and opened fire. Stepping aside, she managed to doge the shot, but the sudden movement also threw off her own aim. With that realization, she sighed. Double checking her health, she knew she couldn’t waste the arrows. Though she fought through enough pain as it was, she had a feeling she could handle one more shot, but in return, she would need to make this next one count. Nocking an arrow, she let out a long breath and stood still, taking aim at the archer. Seeing this, the archer quickly leaned out and fired again, but this time, Lian did not move. No, every ounce of her focus was trained on her opponent and the red mark on his head that her passive ability granted her. Even as the arrow flew at her, she did nothing more than take another shot of her own.

It was instant, but it was also painful. Her arrow had struck home, hitting the archer in the head, but causing her to take an arrow to the gut. Immediately, her vision blurred in agony as her health dropped to less than an eighth. With her battle finally won, she staggered over to her previous perch, looked over the edge, and with shuddering arms, took aim.