The Law of the Battle [PM to join]

[Deleted]

Couple OOC notes; I realize that this is freeform and no one is required to adhere to them, but in the interest of keeping the topic fun and challenging for everyone, it would be pretty awesome if everyone was willing to play along. I'll try to keep it short, but this is going to take a few lines.

1. Bandits are not chew toys. Most of them have fought more than any of us have. They're still poorly armored, poorly trained, and don't have perfect morale - but they live to steal crap and kill people. Try not to casually dice through five at once, yeah? We're all super low level anyways. Keep in mind that these bandits are well-equipped enough to have swords and bows, as well as the usual iron axe/hand axe choices; they're bandits in terms of job, not class.

2. I would ask that you leave the major spawns to me. What you do with nearby bandits is entirely your call, but I would like to try to evoke a fairly serious tone and working with me will make that a lot easier. I doubt it's actually spoilers that there are going to be more bandits than the estimates suggested

3. Don't wait for everyone else to post if it would be appropriate to post again. This topic is WAY too big for us to use a post order; I've counted nine people already in / showing up soon / intending to show up. If Ally is fighting a couple bandits with Linius at her side, don't worry too much about what Lilly and Erica are doing, yeah?

4. This is going to be the vaguest of them all but - if you could follow my lead, generally speaking, it would be appreciated. I say this solely in the hopes that we can have a decent emulation of a large-scale skirmish with some semblance of order and use of tactics; if it would be IC for your character to disagree with Lilly's orders, that's your call, but basically I'd just like a chance to describe new major developments before people are already barreling in.

The only actual rule: HAVE FUN. If I may make a suggestion; play with teamwork a lot. We have a ton of people here - all the more reason for Lilly to be occasionally throwing a Fire at whoever Laertes is wrestling at or for Linius to headbutt the guy overpowering Valc, etc etc.

If you have any questions, PM me so we can work them out. I apologize for the length of this preface: it may seem like I'm overthinking this, but I'm really just trying to create a fun and reasonably challenging fight for everyone, and that becomes a bit easier if we all agree to work together towards that end rather than all doing our own thing.

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In retrospect, sentries were not a big surprise, but it was still disheartening. Their presence atop the ruined battlements suggested that the bandits were alerted to the possibility of trouble, and that just complicated things immensely. There was a boon, though, one that she hadn't even dared hope for: the gates to the fortress were open! Whether they were too rotted to actually close or left open by the bandits was irrelevant - without any sort of siege weaponry they would have been without any recourse had the defenders simply closed and barred the colossal gates.

Of course, there were half a dozen bandits milling about the entrance, all of them armed. Of course. There were no other easily accessible entrances, either. Of course. It bothered her that the curs had obviously been expecting an attack, but whether through foolhardiness or pragmatism they were dedicated to defending the gates, not simply barring them. It was equally possible that they were unable to close the doors - and were thus forced to actively defend them - as it was likely that they intended to simply meet her group head-on and crush them to assert total dominance of the reason: a show of force to completely cow all other nearby villages into simpering submission.

That simply would not do. Lilly snorted, her thoughts of the last few seconds coalescing as she scanned the group clustered loosely around her; everyone was back from the initial scouting, or at least as much as they had been able to do from the edge of the woods without blowing their cover. At least there was some small blessing that their route of approach allowed them to get within fifty meters or so of the gates before having to leave the woods - but the rest would be paid for with blood and sweat. She mentally shrugged, deciding that worrying more wasn't going to help anything, and spoke quietly to the group, her expression grim but calm. Even addressed the Etrurian, something she was rather proud of herself for.

"I don't like this. They shouldn't have been aware of our arrival, much less prepared. They're arrayed outside the gates as though expecting a pitched battle, and if they're ready, I'd wager that more of them are somewhere in the general vicinity - given our luck, I'd expect an ambush or flanking attack at some point in the fight." The Lycian mage allowed an exasperated sigh to escape her lips, struggling to contain her frustration at not having a perfect battle plan already in mind without making it too obvious. "I don't see how we have a choice, though - we don't have siege weapons, so if they close the gate, our merry band of vigilantes is entirely out of luck. We need that gate, and sooner rather than later. A defensible position will be key to surviving further attack waves if they do have friends, and the limited space in the opening will eradicate any numerical advantage they might have by that point."

Which meant - what, they were just going to charge straight in without a plan? Not likely. The inklings of an idea were beginning to form in her mind, but Lillianne was not arrogant enough to discount the value of hearing the thoughts of others. Linius in particular, but even Alicia might prove... somewhat... useful. Doubtful, but stranger things had happened. "I believe that our best chance is to capitalize on what remaining element of surprise we have remaining - Sammie and I to eliminate the lookouts if possible, then suppress their ranged support while the primary assault force charges to engage. Once the initial enemy archers are eliminated, Erica will be cleared to engage at her discretion; Linius, Alicia, Lartes, you three will comprise the front line."

She straightened, trying to gauge their faces. "The situation is not quite as good as I had hoped, but entirely salvageable if we abuse our own advantages; we have training, the ability to bring overwhelming force on a given location, and" - hopefully - "the ability to work together as a coherent team. If any of you have suggestions, speak up now or prepare to sally." If she was lucky, it might even come out sounding reasonably self-assured and not at all as scared as Lilly knew she would be as soon as she stopped focusing on the task at hand!

[Alicia]

"Saint Elimine guide and protect us," Alicia said softly under her breath, her eyes closed as she focused on her prayer, her thoughts flying out to her goddess."May she see fit to bless us with victory." She opened her eyes, her gaze fierce and determined, her expression a stoic mask. The blessings of heaven were with them, she told herself. Nervousness and fear still tinged her mind, however. This promised to be a large battle, the likes of which she had never fought. Looking at the fortress and the bandits guarding it drove into her how futile an assault by herself would have been.

She stared at Lillianne attentively as she spoke, her eyes no longer challenging or antagonistic. Oh, she still hated the mage, but the circumstances had changed. They needed a solid leader to stand a chance, and, as much as she hated to admit it, Lillianne was it. Her eyes glanced over to each of her companions in turn, a sudden feeling of gratefulness welling up within her with each person she counted. She would be relying on them in the coming battle, after all, just as they would depend on her skills. The tip of her lance rose slightly as her grip tightened.

"Understood. I will await your signal." She readied herself, moving forwards ever so slightly, keeping her entire body in the shadow of the woods to avoid alerting the lookouts. A single ray of sunlight glinting off her armor could spell disaster for the entire group.

[Sammi]

Sammi listened and prepared her bow, trying to be as quiet as possible. She knew that the lookouts were trained to hear any source of suspicious noise and would be a dead giveaway. She figured she would stay with lily and get the people with the long ranged weapons first. She tried not to look as worried as she was because she did not want to appear weak in front of these people. This was her job now and she needed to not screw it up.

"At your signal, Lily," she said awaiting the coast to be clear. She glanced nervously at the fortress. "Maybe this won't be so bad," she thought to herself, although she knew she had never fought a big battle like this one before. Sure she had used the bow on people before but only a few if they had harmed her. This was a whole army. She just decided to suck it up and deal with it. Everyone was valuable at this point and she needed to do her best.

[Linius]

Linius stood at the ready, his spear in his right hand, his shield strapped to his left arm. He had adorned his helmet, only adding to his imposing figure. He looked down at Sammi, seeing the tell tale signs of fear, and set a hand on her shoulder to give an assuring grip before stepping forward. "No heroes today." he stated calmly. "No unnecessary risks, no attempts at heroism. Alicia, Laertes, we stand together. We let no one passed us." Linius ordered, bringing down his visor. "If any of you have second thoughts, either leave them here or leave us here. Once this begins, there will be no running. We win together, or we die together." Looking to Lilliane, he nodded. "At your command."

[Erica Winters]

Erica stood alongside her loyal mount Kiki. In order to keep hidden Erica of course could not sit blatantly atop Kiki. There was no danger though, when necessary Erica could immediately hop over Kiki and position herself readily on top. Her hair was tied securely in its usual long extended braid, the same way it had been for the entire duration of the day. She allowed her hand to gently slide down along her perfectly tied braid tossed over her right shoulder and down the front of herself. She walked with her allies, her mind wandering. She took the time to not just reflect, but analyze. What was she doing? She was helping the village of course… but what was she really doing? She was starting, starting her journey. So much talk to herself about doing it, promises to her husband, and now it was really happening. Erica felt a feeling of unnerve cramping within herself. She was about to head into battle… a real battle. Fighting killed her father, fighting killed her husband. She was so heavily against it, was she really willingly about to enter? Would she see the same fate as those she held dear? She looked around, her vacant eyes scanning her allies. Lillianne, Laertes, Linius, Alicia, Samantha. No… She neglected the possibility, she refused it, she denied it! She had her allies, together they would fight, together they would win. Erica had faith. A feeling of warmth flowed through her body, refreshing like the morning sun. Was this what Kyle felt, a feeling of unity? A feeling of doing good, even at the cost of lives. Fighting together, and fighting for good? Erica had never thought about it before, her judgment was always shrouded by loss. If there really was a point in fighting, if something good could ever come of it, then let it be proven now…

Erica stood alongside Alicia, hearing her whisper to herself. She looked at Alicia with hope. Gently she placed her hand on the braided knight’s shoulder and offered a reassuring smile. However, though hard to detect, the smile had a hint of, gratitude. Almost as if Erica was thanking Alicia for her prayers.

Saint Elimine…

Erica’s expression hardened, serious, willing, and confident. She moved her hand from Alicia’s shoulder and her eyes analyzed the bandit stronghold. She was surprised to say the least, but no longer threatened. Her mind finally began to focus. To Erica however, she could only see an impenetrable castle, with sentries and heavily guarded gates. They were outnumbered. However, she then took another look at her team and her eyes darted across the different corners of the fortress. They were outnumbered but they could still win. They had variety, and they still had surprise. Once the sentries were gone she could move safely, and if the door stayed open they had an easy entrance. Her head turned to Lillianne and she listened to a much more in-depth analysis. Lillianne, she was wise. If they stuck to her plans they had a chance of victory, Erica could feel it. She wasn’t fighting for Kyle’s sake, and she wasn’t even fighting for her own, but for the village. Victory was a must.

After listening to a inspirational speech from Linius Erica took a moment to truly analyze the newest member. She was so young, and she was already fighting… No, Erica instantly pushed those thoughts out of her head. She nodded and smiled gently at the young girl, she trusted the girl, under these conditions, she did so unconditionally. Kiki folded her legs and lay down on the floor as Erica readied herself on top, also slouching down. They remained at safe height and were now ready to launch.

“Ready.”

[Alicia]

Alicia couldn't help but smile at Erica's gesture, nodding in what she hoped was a reassuring way. Her earlier conversation had made her realize how little human contact she had allowed herself the last six years; it was as though a burden she had been carrying had lightened ever so slightly in a matter of hours. These people, whether for money or honor, had chosen to stand against the bandits; could they become friends, too?

She shook her head, clearing such thoughts away. Now was not the time for it. She drew on the lessons she had been taught for so long. Emotions had no place in a battlefield. And yet..."Fight well, Erica," she said softly, looking at the woman that was, perhaps, her newest friend. "May the Goddess watch over you and Kiki." She looked around, at the young archer girl whose name she hadn't caught, the sellsword...no, Laertes, the huge mountain of steel, Linius, and even Lillianne, who stood proudly with her shoulders straight, even with the omen of battle hanging over the air heavily. Truth be told, she had expected her to run away at the first sign of trouble, as those clothed in finery often did. The woman had steel in her, however, as courageous as any knight. She nodded at each of them in turn. "Saint Elimine watch over each of you as well."

She turned to Linius, listening to his words before nodding assertively. "We stand together. They will not break through." No, perhaps these people were no friends of her, and she had caught Linius and Lillianne's gazes far too often to believe any of them held any love of her or her country. And yet, the thought of letting any of them die made a part of her that she thought long buried quiver with fear. She might have trained with her fellow recruits for six years, and yet she had never gotten to learn anything of them but their names. Surprisingly, she felt she knew these people better, despite only having met them the very same day. Wasn't that ironic, she thought to herself.

[Sammi]

Sammi listened to Linius's words and nodded, feeling better. "Right. I will fight by you," she reassured everyone. She noticed everyone was preparing for the battle as well, and she felt ready and confident. All of these people possibly had different intentions about her fighting so young, but she pushed the the thought away. After all they were all here for the same reason.

She steadied her bow and remembered that she was still technically on probation with these people and wanted to prove to them that she can be trusted. After all people were still giving her unsure gazes, so she wanted them to know that even though she was young, she would still give it her all. She looked a the group of people. Lilly, Erica, Alicia, Linius and a swordsman who's name she had not caught yet. She wasn't sure if they knew each other, but they all seemed to share a bond. Sammi figured that she couldn't read minds, and she would never know how these people felt about each other. However we were all here to fight together, and personal things like that could wait. But, she would like to fight with these people again if she had the chance. They all looked like a nice group of people and she was sure that she will probably stumble upon some that weren't exactly as welcoming as these.

Alicia was saying something quietly to Erica, which she figures must be a prayer for Saint Elimine. She smiled and said to herself, "For father." "And mother who I've never met," she added because it felt right to include her in a matter such as this. She awaited her fellow companions and Lily's signal.

[Deleted]

SOUNDTRACK: awww yeahhhh

It was fascinating to see how the various members of the group motivated themselves for the fight - prayer, sheer stubbornness, past experience; whatever it took to keep down the fear. Even relying on each other, no matter how little time they had spent together; Linius comforting Sammi, Erica and Alicia relying on each other. She could see it in their eyes, their stances; they were prepared, ready to fight, but not emotionless, mindless soldiers.

It made her feel a little less alone, but Lilly couldn't afford to show weakness. Not now. Her verbal sparring with Alicia had weakened her position, and the last thing she could afford to do now was allow her own weakness to dispirit the others. They had to believe that she knew what she was doing, that her tactics would carry them through. Lilly laid one arm on Linius's armored arm, whispering a simple "be safe" in lieu of anything longer, but her worry was evident. Knowing the basics of tactics from study was so much different than throwing living human beings into the fray, knowing full well that her missing a detail could result in any or all of their deaths.

The mage straightened, crushing the hesitation and doubt under her iron will. She could afford to feel all of this later - for now, she had a battle to win. "You all know your parts. Erica, I would expect the other sentries to be archers as well - be careful. Sammi and I will suppress their fire, but consider any ground-born archers priority targets; we will have difficulty firing through the battle to strike them." There was little else to say to the three fighters; bereft of telepathy to keep them constantly aware of their surroundings, her contribution to their fight would be fire support. "Sammi, with me. Strike the defenders first - after that, use your discretion, focusing priority targets." They would have to rely on her and Sammi's initial volley to sow enough havoc to give the fighters time to close as much of the gap as possible, and Erica to harry as possible.

Lilly removed her jacket in one fluid motion, feeling the fresh air on her bare arms. This was going to be tricky. "Call to arms and prepare to sortie." Everything around her simply ceased to matter to Lilly as the magic flowed through her, her attention entirely focused on applying the lessons of the previous evening. She had managed to work it into a working attack, but this was going to take a lot out of her personally until she could figure out how to reroute the flow of magic through the spell more efficiently.

Magic circles flickered into existence around her right arm as she slowly raised it, raising it above her while focusing on the bandit atop the nearest battlement. Unmoving, unexpecting - the perfect target, though this would only work once. The patterns began rotating gradually as runes flashed in the air in their preset patterns, a constant flow of data as the heavily modified spell went to work shaping the charge, her own consciousness linked to it as the administrator. Decarabia - here. Zayl in its place. Astrogha here. Change into Domination. Each circle gradually constricted around the arm as she lowered it, aimed directly at the bandit, struggling to hold it steady as power flowed through it and her. Control. Focus. She had to dominate the overall flow as much as her modifications shaped the spell itself, lest she lose control.

A brief crackle of energy was the only indicator as the last of the magic circles constricted fully around her arm, clamping around her wrist with a force that was entirely palpable - and then a brilliant lance of pure light erupted forth, molten fury given form and purpose that drilled through the victim, flash-boiling his right shoulder and collarbone. The beam flickered out as quickly as it came, a dull reddish trail of dissipating magic joined by a sharp crackling sound as air rushed to fill the void the only proof of its passing.

The recoil burned, magic contained by the spell dissipating within her arm with a dull glow, but none of that mattered. Everything seemed very far away, but that was the opening the group needed - Sammi had her chance to open fire, and the fighters had their opportunity to begin moving in. Lilly bit down the pain, the exhaustion, assuming direct control of her body through sheer stubbornness and willpower rather than any sort of magical skill or coherent thought. All she could grind out were two short words, a verbal reminder of the situation - "Eradicate them."

[OOC: if you want to see sort of what I was going for, this is about how I saw the magic circles, sans the big one at the tip, and this is approximately what the firing like, albeit sans the sudden windstorm or longer duration of lasering. Also note that that was by no means anything close to a laser - she basically just gauss rifle'd a Fire spell. Anyherp, as I VERY SUBTLY hinted in the post, this is the point where the fight officially starts! GO GET 'EM TIGERS.]

{Don't worry too much about exactly where everyone is - we know there are around half a dozen bandits by the door (describe them however you want, just remember that they can be using anything from axes/hand axes/swords/bows), and I'd guess that one of the other sentries from the battlements will be peeking around to see wtf is up.}

[Sammi]

Sammi waited as Lily finished her strategy and at her command followed her to where she would fire. There were a few defending archers that she could see from where she was standing and figured that's who Lily wanted her to strike first.

The mage already started to attack, possibly creating diversion for her to get a few seconds of open shot and the others to make their way in before they started attacking back.

After she finished, Sammi figured that she would have to strike quick before they fire back. She knew that they had more fighting experience than her and she would would need to take advantage of every second. She loaded her arrow and lined up her shot quickly so that there wouldn't have time for them to move, and fired. "Crap!" she told herself as the first arrow flew past and missed the target. Oh well she told her self, trying to be optimistic. After she had had plenty of missed shots before and this certainly would not be her last.

She started to line up another arrow but the archer already had his in place, and fired it at her. She quickly moved aside but the arrow still caught her in the foot. She yanked the arrow painfully out of her foot, but did not dare cry. She would not show any signs of weakness now. There would be plenty of time for crying in privacy.

She decided to line up another arrow and shoot it at he defender closest to her, but who was paying attention to the others closing in. She fired and it caught in his arm and he dropped his bow. "Success!" she said in her mind. Although it wasn't that big of an accomplishment, she still felt proud considering it was her first fight. However, she would need to keep pulling stuff like that off and stay alive at the same time. And she was pretty sure that they would all start firing again soon enough.

Attachments:

[Valclaud]

[white]"HORRAY! The building is now closer after running all that time. I hope they still have food from that smoke I saw earlier."[/white] Valclaud spoke to himself as he neared the fortress. after two hours of his stomach rumbling at him that sounded like "Hey, get your butt moving! I'm hungry and I don't got all day!" to him. nearing closer he saw that there were people living here; dirty, muscular, and not very good-looking. [white]Oh well,[/white] He thought [white]lost, hungry teenagers can't be choosers.[/white]

As he got nearer, His gaze was diverted to a small explosion that happened on the ramparts, followed by bow fire between a different archer (the one that was in the explosion is probably in a pool of whatever) on the ramparts and what could be another archer in the woods. Looking in the direction of the woods where the archers were exchanging fire, Valclaud figured it was just two different groups wanting to beat the brains out of each other. [white]"Seriously? I just wanted food and THIS happens?!? fine, I'll just wait here and see what happens"[/white] Valclaud softly told himself, hiding in a bush nearby.

[Erica Winters]

Erica nodded and smiled politely, however she did not turn her head to Erica. She appreciated her prayers and whole heartedly wished the same for her, but they both knew they had to remain focused.

“And you Alicia.”

Erica had grown even more determined to win; she was now fighting for the safety of the villagers, herself and her newest friends. There was no opportunity to disappoint. Erica was ready, ready to fight for this just cause. She knew everyone was going to put their best effort into this and she felt reassured, that they could win. Erica overheard the young archer whispering to herself, but she chose, for now, to ignore it. Still, The mother she never met… Erica could understand how that would feel, she often wondered about the child she never got to have. She re-focused her attention to the constantly intensifying scene. It was time, with no delay Lillianne took command. Erica nodded.

“I will ensure no arrow reach these wings.”

Kiki readied herself, stretching out her legs, and changing from a lying position to a squat, ready to launch in a moment’s notice. In the meantime Erica examined Lilly in somewhat awe as she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. The only time she had ever seen magic before, was with that boy… Those cold dark tendrils, the odd feeling of emptiness. It was only natural she be confused and surprised by Lilly’s spell casting. Erica’s hair whipped rapidly behind her from the launching force of the spell Lillianne released, and watched as the lance drilled through and eradicated the sentry. It was a horrific site for the eyes of kindhearted Erica. The inhumanity… Her face showed no signs of disgust, she had to cope, she had already accepted the bloodshed she was about to enter.

Lillianne’s words echoed through Erica’s head. Eradicate them, that’s really what they were about to do. She remained crouched for a moment allowing Alicia Linius and Laertes to charge forth, she would quickly surpass them it was important she not charge first, and become primary target. Erica could see just a few arrows fly past to onto the field and miss. She had no time however.

“Focus Samantha!”

Immediately Kiki launched into the air like a catapult, her wings bursting forth and outwards, several white feathers descended towards the ground below. Sammi couldn’t afford to miss, she had to take out the archers. Kiki soared through the sky, Erica’s long braid whipping uncontrollably behind her.

“DIVE!”

Multiple arrows shot towards Erica in the sky but were skillfully avoided by a nose dive, spiraling towards the ground Erica had already caught up with the others. Before making impact with the hardened earth below Kiki turned at a sharp 90 degree angle, soaring just inches above the floor but not actually galloping. Two bandits stood directly ahead, one with a sword guarding the landed archer behind him, readying the shot. Kiki swiftly moved to the side as if dodging an attack, and just as expected the bandit jumped out of the way the archer immediately firing to Erica’s previous position. She couldn’t help but grin slightly to herself and silently thank her husband who had taught her whatever it was she knew about fighting. She extended her lance out slicing through the bandit pair and used her free hand to pull sharply on Kiki’s reins, sending her upwards immediately and out of the fray. The blood splattered into the air, Erica mentally apologizing to herself. However Erica failed to notice that within the grounded fray she escaped upwards from, was another land bound archer, who speedily readied a shot and aimed upward to Erica.

((OoC: Hmm hope that was a good effort, never rped a fight before, especially not on Pegasus. Erica has some training but she’s still inexperienced so she failed to think of the other grounded archers. Just to be clear that archer hasn’t fired yet.))

[Alicia]

The young knight let out the breath she had been holding at Lillianne's words,stepping forward in a single, fluid motion that belied the heaviness of her armor. She charged across the field, her breathing steady. The pounding of her heart grew in volume until it became entwined with the surprised cursing of the bandits and the ring of weapons being drawn. An arrow grazed past her shoulder, deflected by the heavy metal plate; her eyes narrowed, but she dared not slow down and present an easier target. Her gaze remained focused on the six that stood guarding the gate; they were her objectives.

"Etruria! For justice!" Alicia cried out, undeterred, refusing to slow down, the words as much a battlecry as a call for attention; two bandits were foolish enough to break away and charge. The smaller one arrived first; hunched over like a toad, yet nimble of feet. A disgusting black beard covered half his face, and she could have sworn she could see the lice crawling out of it and into his lopsided mouth. The man grinned, dark gaps appearing where teeth were missing, his notched hand axe rising for a blow.

Too slow!

With the strength of an ox cart, Alicia crashed into him, shoving into the man, catching him off balance; armor met flesh, the weight of tempered plate and speed of her trot enough to send the bandit flying backwards to the ground at her feet. The vicious whistling of air that came from her side, however, warned her to turn before landing a finishing blow. The clattering of metal grating against metal rung in her ears, making her wince as she caught the saber's blow on her left vambrace; the blow had not seriously hurt her, but the impact was likely to leave a bruise despite her leather padding.

She looked up at the face of the man, his eyes sparkling fiercely with anger and greed. A nasty, half-healed scar reached from his nose to the base of his jaw. Taller than his companion by far, he stood at least a head over the Etrurian knight, yet was of slim build. He was not as dim of wit as the first one, of that she was certain; at least, he had had the sense to try to attack her from her flanks.

Not that it would help him. As he pulled back his sword for another blow, Alicia punched at his jaw with her free hand; her gauntlet's knuckle protectors dug into the bandit's face, crushing flesh against bone and cracking his teeth. The man howled in pain, reeling back, dropping the sword to clutch awkwardly at his wound; she prepared herself for a lance thrust, directing a silent prayer to Saint Elimine.

An arrow sprouted from her hip, digging past an armor plate and into the space at the joint; the young woman hissed in pain, her eyes shining with unbridled fury for an instant before she restrained herself. Calm as midsummer's breeze. She would have to check later how much damage the accursed projectile had done; now was not the time. Her lance shot forward as she twisted her body, placing as much power as she could into the thrust, spinning the tip just so as it approached the tall man's body; she grunted as it pierced his left lung, disappointed, before pulling it back fiercely, eyeing the bandit with caution. The lance slipped free with ease, its tip covered in crimson. She had been aiming for his throat; the wound was still fatal, but not an instantaneous death as she had intended.

She turned warily towards the first ruffian as he recovered, coughing, his eyes dazzled; the fall had knocked the wind out of him. He, too, would die by her lance soon. None would pass.

[Linius]

Linius rose his shield high as he charged forward at Alicia's side. He could feel the force of impact as arrows struck his shield and bounced away. He rose his lance as he dug his steel boots into the ground, channeling the inertia of his stop into the tip as he thrust at one of the bandits. His enemy was no fool, however. He had been wise enough to move when he realized where the black armored knight was striking. Bringing up his shield, Linius pushed forward, feeling the reverbrations as his shield bashed against his enemies sword. As the bandit staggered, he thrusted his lance forward, only to be stopped as another batted it away with his sword.

The knight took a step back, observing his foes from behind his visor. Stepping forward again, he feinted a thrust towards the 'heroic' bandit, but carried forward, bashing his shield against his original enemy. As the former stumbled, he turned, raising his lance arm to catch the second bandit's blade against his bracer, his arm tensing as the protective metal resonated against it in a less than comfortable manner. He swing his fist in a backhand, easily dodged, before bringing up his shield to protect his front. His head turned ever so slightly, catching his first foe recovering from the shield bash, before thrusting towards the second bandit. He had expected him to dodge, but continued forward, smashing against his body. Quickly, he turned to face the original bandit, shield again at the ready, bringing his lance tip low to impale his fallen enemy's chest.

[Sammi]

Another arrow whizzed past Sammi, but she dodged it, considering her foot. She was moving on it, and she hoped nothing was horribly broken, but she had to work through the pain. She could not afford to miss another arrow like she had before.

She noticed the Pegasis knight, Erica, was over by another archer who was ready to shoot. Sammi hoped that he would notice her, as she lined up her shot. She fired at the archer and the arrow landed in his side. He fell to his knees, although she wasn't sure if the wound was fatal. However Erica could finish him off if she wanted to.

She noticed that almost all the archers had been taken out, and she needed to focus more on what was going on closer to the battle. She tried to analyze those who were fighting there, they had a wide range of weapons. She realized someone with a sword or lance would be harder to dodge if she got in close enough, so she decided to keep a good amount of distance between her and the other bandit, who had a lance. She wanted to get him out first, because his attention was on Alicia, who was very close to him.

She shot an arrow, which landed in his arm, like the first archer she shot. "Not great, but it at least weakened him in case he going to attack Alicia at his full strength", she thought as she made her way around trying to find her next target.

While making her way around, she heard a rustling in the bush behind her. She readied her arrow just in case, but as she figured, it had stopped. Could have been the wind or an animal, she thought and focused on the battle.

[Deleted]

Lillianne was exceedingly grateful that the rest of the group sprung into action without waiting for anything else; her spell had been a show of force, calculated to kill the sentry and leave an inflated approximation of her magical prowess to unbalance the bandit horde, but the truth was that it was completely useless in actual combat. The charge time had not been for showing off glowing circles so much as the fastest she could actually gather than much energy and safely launch it, and in the wake of one firing she was already feeling tired. Not that impressive for something that really wasn't much stronger than a normal Fire spell, but she had a lot of improvement to do - both in herself and the altered spell's containment structure. As soon as people were focused on the rest of the fight, Lilly let herself fall against a tree for a moment, catching her breath wih her eyes half lidded. Ugh. One of those was enough for her today; the rest of the fight would likely be her relying on perfectly normal spells.

Unless forced into melee, but then that would only happen with an ambush, and - god dammit to bloody hell there were bandits there. OF COURSE. Sparing a glance at the fight by the fortress, she could see that it was certainly going on in earnest, more bandits pouring out of the mouth of the foreboding structure. Archers. They were already firing on the group, Sammi returning fire with admirable gusto as Erica swept into the fray herself. Well, that answered that question - for the bandits to already be this ready to engage wholesale meant that they had been already aware of the incoming attack. A traitor amongst the villagers?

That all stopped mattering when she realized that there were three bandits near her and Sammi, spreading out to make them impossible to focus-fire through the trees. Since when did bandits know better than to just charge? Whispering a silent request to her body to hold together a little longer, Lilly pushed off the tree as fire erupted to life within her hand, launching the oblong mass of magic at the middle of the three. A hazy arc of crimson marked its passing, followed momentarily later by another as she calculated the trajectory more accurately from the passing of the first one. He was still grinning at the first missed attack when the parabolic path of the second sent it impacting his chest, burning through leather and flesh in the immediate area while setting the vicinity alight with bubbling flesh.

His scream was drowned out by a curious whistling that sent Lilly rolling, not entirely sure what was going on but quite aware of how severely her danger sense was going off. The axe impacted the tree where her head had been while she was mid-tumble, and the hulking beast of a man who had somehow contrived to creep up on her had it pulled free by the time her movement stopped and her head cleared enough to consider counterattacking.

Her earlier considerations about the unlikelihood of being forced into melee range seemed wonderfully naive and ironic, Lilly decided, glaring up at the bandit as she rose to her full height. Which was still shorter than his, but at least now she could look him in the upper chest. He was advancing, leering at her obvious discomfiture, but walking, certain of his victory. And frankly, Lilly knew that the situation didn't look particularly good - what she could do with one fire spell would probably not be enough to stop him before he could close the gap and safely and effectively remove her head.

A tiny flicker of magic arced down her arm, followed by another. This was really, really, stupid. Colossally so. Mind-bendingly retarded. His voice was low and scratchy, sounding more like it built up from his chest than his mouth. "Not so confident now, whore." He was still approaching, axe over his shoulder, ready to swing it down in a great arc and cleave her in two. "You think we don't know the crap that happens in our territory? You're all already dead - you just haven't realized it yet."

-On second thought, maybe it was worth the risk to prove him wrong. Lilly smiled brightly, slowly walking backwards, trying to prolong the time it took him to reach her without inciting an actual charge. Not that it helped - he charged as soon as he finished speaking, a roar emanating from him with nigh-physical force. Her smile flagged, through less at his charge as the realization that this was going to be a really bad execution of a horrible idea. But she was committed now, and not much else could change that.

The beast was almost upon her when Lillianne's arm snapped up, flaring with runes as a much larger magic circle sprang to life at the tip of her clenched fist. The spell was already decomposing, its containment field collapsing in on itself- and more runes sprang to life, each instance of Sathorael replaced with Sydonai in a calculated gamble that she knew was not going to end well for anyone involved.

Neither of them had time to wipe the smiles off their respective faces before the two Fire spells simply erupted, any sense of a cohesive fabric ruined as the magical forces tore each other apart, the force of each already multiplied by her last minute alterations. The magical reaction escalated instantly, a searing jet of searing flame that enveloped the bandit before he could scream. Unfortunately, there were certain laws of nature that suggested a generally equivalent reaction to any action, and even with the focus of the blast aimed at her foe, there was more than enough concussive force and magical feedback to send her off her feet.

Lilly slammed into another tree and blacked out for an instant from the force of the collision, gasping for air for her burnt lungs as soon as a semblance of consciousness returned during the drop to her knees. She couldn't even see, uselessly blinking at nothingness as her retinas struggled to adjust in the wake of the hellish flash of light... and the randomly sparkling flickering light from what she suspected was a minor concussion.

Maybe next time she would try that with a lot of pillows behind her instead of a hard object. She considered smiling, but carefully decided to instead vomit on the ground, retching uselessly despite not having eaten much that day. Maybe Sammi was doing a better job!

[OOC note: two of the bandits I spawned in the forest with us are still alive and heading towards us, Sammi - your call as to whether they're focusing Sammi or Lilly, and if they have any MORE members of the ambush squad.]