Sanctuary Disturbed (Open)

[Ryuzaki]

Ryuzaki gave a small chuckle. The mage had an air of ...worldly experience about her, he supposed, but her personality made her seem like a carefree teen.

"Well, Vivi, at least I didn't have to test your strength. However, I think that we sh--"

The sound of a rooster's cry broke through the air, and Ryuzaki's face fell. An expression that could be interpreted as both dread and a deep sense of unease came over him, transforming his body posture into an aggressive, tense stance as opposed to his usual relaxed state.

"Vivi. We need to get to the militia. Fast. Um... I don't want to sound condescending, or weak... But perhaps we should stick together? We'll have to trust that that Sacaean man can handle himself. And... You know the town better, so... If I may, I'd let you lead. I would like to warn you that my style can be a bit... Reckless. But I do watch my foe carefully. So... If we're moving together, shall we engage the foe?"

With that, Ryuzaki flicked his bangs to the side and fixed his indigo eyes directly on her, raising his sword to a ready position.

[Elias]

Some random old man came out of nowhere and called to him and while Elias was always a believer that you should respect the elderly and be mindful of them, now wasn't exactly a good time. "Shh." Elias held a finger to his lips, hushing the man. There was... noises around them. Quiet, scattering. It sounded like rats. He held his finger in the air apprehensively. His wide green eyes slowly trailing across the village as he looked like he was expecting something. "There..." He said quietly. Someone was sneaking around. "Get inside, quickly. This place is about to get cuhrayzee." The man was probably going to say something in reply, but Elias was busy off in his own world by the time it would have come.

There! A rooster crows!

The sounds became louder, more apparent, the shadows on the walls no longer skirted the edges of the mage's vision but were readily apparent. They weren't alone. It appears that somewhere along the line the bandits had placed plants inside the village, plants as in people. Not the plant. Basically they hid and at the rooster's call they were going crazy, which meant that it was probably their signal. Now what they were tasked to do was a mystery, but not one that Elias planned on letting happen as he snapped the reins of Demon and sent his horse cascading down the streets and into an alleyway, chasing one of the shadows that slunk around the alleyways of this burg.

"In the name of magic, I shall punish you!" Elias shouted at the man (or woman, it was hard to tell really) that was running away from the incensed mage at full tilt. He chased the cloaked man into a clearing as he hopeless dashed away from the mage, but the magic knight wasn't about to let that happen. In his hands was his staff, and at the tip magic flourished and gathered. There was a group of people nearby, but Elias was too focused on his target as he unleashed the gathering of magic into a single powerful firebolt, flying through the air and smashing into the earth creating a hearty explosion of flame and magic. It didn't hit the man proper, but the shockwave from the blast sent him careening forward and smashing his head on the side of a building. Where he promptly got knocked out. Or died. Head injuries were tricky. He prefered to believe it was knocked out though, easier on the conscious.

He turned his head, sitting atop his horse, to the right there was some people. One two three... three of them. "You should probably get inside everyone, it's dangerous out here."

[Yaen]

Yaen paused as the Sacaen boy called out to him, pouring his heart out in a plea for assistance. He had to admit, it was a bit moving. The woman's scorn was noted, but he put little thought into it. He wasn't a soldier or a knight or a hero. He was a sell sword. A sell sword did not fight along side strangers for free. "I'm not here to help you." he replied, keeping his voice level and calm. "And I cannot earn you redemption. That is something you have to obtain yourself. As I said before, do not get in my way, and I will not get in yours. We are allies of circumstance, nothing more."

He turned his head to look at the pair as they exchanged their greetings, his right hand moving to rest on the hilt of the blade at his right hip. "I am Yaen of the Amasi. A final word of advice: Tread carefully. This is not a test of abilities or a friendly challenge. This is a battle. If you make a mistake, you will die." he warned. The sharp crow of a rooster caught his attention, again halting his progress. The attack the boy warned of was beginning.

"...You. You said your name was Vivian, did you not?" he said, turning fully, approaching the pair again. "Gather your militia, and any other willing to fight. You need to form ranks, and immediately." he stated, looking around. "As your enemies will be coming in from all sides, your best hope will be to muster them here, forming a circle around this square. It will be easier for these farmers to stand together and react to an attack than to charge forward without any proper training." he advised.

"I am taking my leave now. You said that they would send a small entourage first. They will be expecting untrained farmers and stable boys. I intend to use that to my advantage. Good luck. Try not to die." Yaen turned from them once more, finally taking his leave of the pair. He was ready. His fingers ached for the familiar feel of grasping his blades, and his soul hungered for the thrill of the battle. He wanted to feel alive.

[Deleted]

As much as Vivian wanted to snap back at the swordsman, she decided to just to calm down and let it go. And to think that she could never calm herself down...this must go down as an achievement for her! With enough joking to herself, it was time to get to work as the man introduced himself and went off on his own after giving them his advice. There were no other ideas to go off of anyway and if they were just allies, then she had no choice but to follow his advice. With Ryuzaki basically suggesting the same thing, she nodded her head at her new ally as she balled her fist again and punched upwards at air with enthusiasm.

"Alll righty! Nothing wrong with sticking together, man. As long as we work together, we'll send those guys rollin'!" After settling down a bit, she bit the bottom of her lip as she was thinking for a bit. "Since the militia likely knows by now that the enemy's coming, they're all are likely heading towards the entrance straight ahead, so we'll have stop them and tell the plan fast before those guys start attacking...aaaaand judging from the rooster call, we don't have time to stand idle, so let's gooo--"

Suddenly, a bit of commotion was heard and when she turned her head, there was a man on a horse there...where'd he come from? It seemed like he didn't know they were going to defend the village too. "Oh! Are you going to help defend the village too, sir? We're actually going to help too, but we've gotta gather the militia here at the square, so we'll be riiiight back~!" And in the next moment, she set off towards the direction of the entrance while grabbing Ryuzaki's arm and beginning to run as she attempted to pull him along. "C'mon, Ryuki! Let's get goin'!"

[Ryuzaki]

"...Ryuki?" Ryuzaki thought bemusedly. "Ryu...ki? Well, that's a new one."

Focusing, Ryuzaki matched the mage's pace, and the two ran towards the militia. As they ran, Ryuzaki realized that it might be prudent to be ready for an attack.

"Vivi," he began, speaking softly to conserve air. "Watch out for anything that may be sharp and out to give you a nice, cold greeting... Like arrows. I'll watch your back... Please, watch mine. Where did that militia go?"

A note of exasperation entered Ryu's tone, and he unconsciously increased his pace slightly, reveling in the rush of the air in his lungs and the adrenaline of the situation, which crackled around him as if he was electric. This was... Different. Absentmindedly, Ryu glanced at the mage's hand, still clamped on his arm as if to drag him along.

"Hm," Ryuzaki thought. "This is certainly a change of pace."

[Elias]

Elias just sort of shrugged at the ragtag group of teenagers with attitude, if there was anything Elias knew from his religious study of hero stories it was that these folk were gonna be the real heroes here and Elias would be like the old war veteran guy who seems more competent but is murdered halfway through and they manage to avenge him with the power of love or something. Point is he wasn't entirely worried, if they went and got themselves hurt he could heal them. They just needed to, y'know, not die. Which should go without saying, but Elias being Elias simply couldn't let something go without being said. "Don't die now, be careful!" He waved off to them with a smile, unsure exactly what they were doing but he was sure they'd figure something out. The girl asked him if he was helping, which implied they were too. Which is good, more help meant more justice to be enacted upon these unrighteous individuals who dared to be such barbarians. Which they obviously were because seriously, Elias has never met a bandit he's liked.

Elias sat there atop his horse, feeling pretty good about his self right now. Smiling as he looked around, seeing an unconscious dude and some other dude who looks like he's trying way too hard to look cool. Something Elias could relate to, it was like they were brothers. Only closer. They said they were getting the militia, right? Where Elias will just stay here and cover the square then, since there was clearly dudes sneaking around. The middle of town seems as good of a place as any to wait them out, he could see most of the town from here.

[Deleted]

Slowing her pace down a bit as she listened to Ryuzaki's warning, she was forced to shift her head back and forth as she tried to keep her eyes peeled for any archers setting their sights on them. Since she had no idea of when they'd finally start attacking, guess it didn't hurt to be a little more careful. "Sooo...we still don't know if they'll start chargin' or shooting at us yet? Guess it doesn't matter though. I'll keep an eye out for ya too! Hey, think I can knock one back with a swing of my tome? I'm pretty lucky!" With the joking aside for now, they were about to hit the block. "...After we turn this next corner, we'll be at the entrance of the town. The militia should be stationed here and getting ready to defend. This is a small town, so everything's pretty closed together."

After turning the corner, the militia was in sight from the distance, though Vivian stopped for a moment as she looked back to her ally. The men covered in basic armored gear and holding all sorts of weaponry were all mobbed up together in a valiant effort to protect their dear home. Little did they know that attacks were going to commence from within the town itself as well. All the more reason to go ahead and warn them before anything bad happened.

"Hey, Ryuki? Ya might...wanna let me do the talking. If they find out you were previously working with the baddies, that might actually turn them on both of us and they wouldn't listen to what we'd say. They're the paranoid type, you see."

[Ryuzaki]

Ryuzaki saw the mage watching, and felt a little more reassured. So the militia were by the main gate... That meant that Vesey would have archers around here... A sinking feeling developed in his gut, and he quickly analyzed what the 'Chief' would do.

"Vivian, we need to hurry. Talk to them, yes, but make sure that we get them to work as a unit... We need to hold the center of the town. If the militia gets broken up, we're fin--"

Ryuzaki grabbed Vivian by the collar and roughly yanked her aside as an arrow whistled toward the duo.

"Damn!" he exclaimed. "Vivian, go for the militia! I'll get this guy!"

Without another word, he shoved the mage forward and took off toward the archer, who was crouching on a shop overhang and nocking another arrow. With his blade held at the ready, Ryu jumped and tried to spring off of a crate to get to the archer, but a swift kick sent him crashing on his back. As he got up, the archer drew back his bowstring, smiling.

"Traitors shall be punished," the archer laughed, and released the arrow. Ryuzaki twisted sideways, feeling a sharp pain in his side. "Ahh," Ryuzaki moaned. "This isn't too good." Injury not withstanding, Ryuzaki grabbed one of the poles holding the awning up, and wrenched it to the side, causing the archer to topple to the ground. Ryuzaki proceeded to slam his blade into the archer once, twice, thrice, until the veteran raider stopped twitching and lay still.

"Ahh," Ryuzaki mumbled. "I'm hit. I need... healing..."

Ryuzaki stumbled out from under the awning. About 100 meters back towards the center of town, Ryuzaki could see the red, mounted mage. He would bring healing, and so salvation... But to the right was Vivian, alone. Caught in his indecision, Ryuzaki failed to see an axe-swinging bandit emerge from an alley until the brigand charged straight at him. "HEY!" Ryuzaki yelled, pulling his sword up into a ready stance. "Sir Red! I think I need you!" he called, barely dodging the axeman's stroke.

[Deleted]

(OOC: Reactionary post.)

"Ahh!" She shrieked out a bit as she was suddenly roughed around for her safety. At first, she questioned what he was up to until she saw the arrow pierce the ground beneath them. Since it was to save her life, the mage wasn't upset over the sudden pull and push, but when her ally spoke and ran off, she stretched her arm out in his direction. "Ryuki, wait!" But it was too late, as he'd already confronted the thief and she was forced to watch the entire brawl go on until the archer eventually went down. But Ryuzaki was hurt and he needed help fast...though she did needed to get to the militia...oh, what to do.

Thankfully, the group of guards heard the sounds of battle and since they were all in plain sight now, the armored protectors came running towards the scene as fast as they could. Seeing this, Vivian sighed a bit out of relief, as she wouldn't have to do any talking just yet and she could help Ryuzaki...who was about to get smacked by an axeman! Sighing again after he dodged the stroke, Vivian opened up her Fire tome and began conjuring up a large fire ball. Great, the big guy was still distracted from trying to hit his prey. Since she was pretty good at aiming her magic...unlike when she was a pupil, having the comet dodge her ally would be easy. She had a straight shot at the bandit too, so unless the agile thief makes another wild movement, she shouldn't hit him.

Deciding to wing it, the fire ball hurled towards the axeman and by the time the brute realized the giant flare, it was too late as the fire ball collided with him head on when he was preparing to attack Ryuzaki again. "Gotchaaaaa!" She winked towards the burning bandit as he fell over and tried to put himself out. But since Vivian made that fire ball a little bigger than usual, he wasn't putting that out. Poor bastard was going to roast until his flesh incinerated and eventually just outright die. Painful way to die, but he deserved it if he was going around hacking people up!

With the opportunity she had and the militia almost arriving, the mage stormed towards Ryuzaki. He got hit by an arrowhead, all right. "Hey, hold on, Ryuki! You all right?" She heard him call out to the mounted man before the big guy stepped in. Remembering such, she shifted her head in the direction of the man. "Please help us, sir!" She called out as well to make sure he heard the both of them. Hopefully no more crooks would jump out on them...

[Elias]

Well look at that butterfly. Hi mr butterfly. Oh you're so elegant and majestic aren't you? Aren't you? You should get out of here mr butterfl- What is it demon? Oh, people need help. Well then, the mage took his eyes off the beautiful... wondrous... Alright alright demon! Yeesh. Elias grabbed the horse by the reins and snapped them. "Hya!" He shouted at the horse started to gallop and high speeds, they were a bit away but he could see them and he would get there quickly on horseback. 10 yards, 100 yards, 1000 yards, didn't matter, Elias was too good. It seemed that white haired dude went and got himself hurt, which sucked because he was kinda far from Elias so he had to go all that way to help him. It wasn't good, because now he lost his spot at the town square and vantage of the whole town. Still a life is worth far more then a good seat to watch the fighting break out, so Elias wasn't going to complain.

As he was riding at top speeds a man carry an axe jumped out at him! Casually Elias flicked him off with an all consuming fireball in midair, it sent him crashing into the ground dead in an instant. He never even broke his stride as the horse galloped through the town. As he neared the white haired guy, who's new name was whitey, he held his mending staff aloft in the air. Preparing to heal him as soon as he pulled in, pulling on the reins of his horse to slow down (not that he needed to, Demon was already slowing down on his own) he slid into place next to the two.

There was a lot of other dudes, militia or something, they were streaming in for reasons. They were almost there, Elias was faster on his horse then they on their feet so he arrived first. "Alright, Elias is here. One healing coming up, stay still. Also try not to look at your wounds while I'm healing because it's gross." He held the staff up as it released a cool soothing light in the immediate area, closing and healing any wounds that Whitey would have. It was like a rushing wave of minty goodness just washing over your body. Healing was delicious. It looked gross, watching flesh return to the flesh missing spots and having the skin knit over it like a pair of knitting needles and big ball of flesh yarn, but it was effective. Whitey would feel as good as new any moment.

[Ryuzaki]

Ryuzaki lifted his arm and swung a swift slash toward the axeman, who... Was being burnt to death? His brain worked for a second before he put two and two together. Well, it was probably good that he hadn't attacked her, if she could burn a man to death like that. Now, his vulneraries... Maybe if he could get one, he could keep fighting. Where WAS that funky guy with the red hat? As he thought about this, he saw Sir Red come flying up. He was... What was that, a blue torch? Wait... No, that's a staff.

As his wounds closed, Ryuzaki felt his brain begin to work efficiently again. "Whew," he sighed. "That feels... Strange. But hey, I feel good. Thanks, Sir Red."

Turning to Vivian, Ryu spoke with urgency. "You need to get the militia on board with us. Vesey acts efficiently, and he has PLENTY of troops at his disposal. We need to establish our defenses!"

As Ryuzaki gesticulated wildly, there was a loud roar, and Ryuzaki looked up in shock to see a group of three of the raiders advancing toward them. Two axe-swinging fanatics, led by... No, it couldn't be... "Damn," Ryuzaki thought. "I didn't want to have to meet him..."

Breaking away from Sir Red and Vivian, Ryuzaki walked toward the group. Leading the small 'brigade' was a lanky, thin fellow, with a large pink cloak.

"Hello there, Ryuzaki," the man leered. "I see you've met some new friends. I knew you'd do something like this. You never had it in you, I could tell... Heh. Well, when I bring Vesey your traitorous corpse, it will be I, Gyra, who will be the master thief. I will be exalted... And you'll be DEAD!  With that, the man pulled out a thin sword, shiny and well-kept, with a hilt covered in fraying gold thread. "Prepare yourself," he challenged.

Ryuzaki sighed and drew his sword. "Please, let me take care of him," he advised his allies. "Gyra... Make your peace." With that, the young thief spun his dull, standard sword and walked toward his fellow thief. The two advanced, and touched blade tips in almost a reverent, ceremonial fashion, before breaking apart and beginning to cirle each other.

Meanwhile, the two axemen had begun to walk around the thieves, and were beginning to cut back in, coming toward Vivian in a V-shaped offensive.

[Yaen]

The sounds of screams and the roar of flames drew Yaen back towards the square. He could see the two young people from before, with a third person now. A horseman wearing red. Yaen couldn't help but feel that he looked strangely familiar, but couldn't quite put his finger on where he'd seen the man before.

He saw the man on the ground, slowly roasting alive. He could see the sacaen boy as a trio of men approached and they began to speak. Then blades were drawn, and they began, almost as if they were conducting a duel. The two axemen with the flamboyantly dressed man charged towards the woman, just as Yaen was clearing the final yards between them.

This was it. The battle had began. He unsheathed one of his Wo-Dao as he rushed towards the closest bandit. Grasping it in both hands, he ran past the axeman, his blade at his side. He could feel the laughable resistance of human flesh as his blade cut into the man's side, the curved blade gliding into him, and easily sliding it's way back through the deep gash he had inflicted. He turned, the Wo-Dao raised, and brought it to the man's neck. It carved through his tendons like they were warm butter, cut through his spinal column like a guillotine, and came out the other side as the man's head fell from his neck. This was it. This was it This was what he'd been missing. This was what made him feel alive.

[Deleted]

So much going on at once, it left the young woman confused. She didn't even know what to do first as the new enemies came to the scene. And just after the mounted man healed Ryuzaki too! Just as she was readying another fire ball, the thief already took off against the funny-looking guy and now she was being targeted. Oh, come on! She'd probably only be able to hit one of them and book it until she had another chance to burn the other. But before she could even release her fire ball, the rude swordsman from before reappeared and cut down one of her assailants in a quick motion that she barely managed to witness entirely. Well, at least he really could use those pretty blades well enough after all.

Not really having time for celebration though, the other axeman was still there but was taken by surprise of the swordsman's entry. She could roast the guy where he stood, but without second though, she fired the dang thing anyway as it hurled towards it's target. The axeman apparently saw the flaming ball from the corner of his eye and dropped to the ground for dear life and rolled out of the way to avoid the ball. Hah hah, wow. That was actually amusing to watch! He must have witnessed his buddy who was still cooking on the ground over there and made a mental note to dodge the heck out of anything she threw at him. She could conjure up another, but she needed to examine her options while he was down. The militia was finally here as they rushed in fast as they could after seing conflict.

"Miss Vivian! What in the world's going on here?!" One of the guards asked with a panicky tone as his men were on standby. Before the man was going to outright order his men to charge in and handle the other bandit and the one Ryuzaki was fighting, Vivian sprung into action as she stood in front of the man. "Wait, wait, chief! Please, listen. We've all gotta position ourselves at the square and hold them off there. These guys are lurking in the village too and they'd catch you guys off guard if we fight like this any longer. It's a plan these guys came up with!" She pointed towards the mysterious swordsman and Ryuzaki as they were still fighting. "Come on, chief! They can handle the guys here while we can rush to the square." She then turned to the red healer...guy since he was giving them a helping hand too. "Do you want to come with us, sir? We could really use your help and your healing staff. We'd all make a greeeat team!"

The leader of the militia took glances back and forth at the battles taking forth and was heavily examining his options before nodding his head. "...All right. We'll trust you and your friends, Miss Vivian. Please, stay close to us." He then ordered his men to make a break for the town square as they all began to charge off.

[Elias]

"Well I was helping to begin with, so I don't see why I would just stop now." Elias cheerfully chirped with a small smile. The other person was also a mage, which was a sight indeed since Elias never saw mages much. It was alllll about the shamans it seemed. Shamans here, shamans there, shamans everywhere. It was nice to meet one who was engrossing herself in the BEST magic there is. He was about to offer the lady a ride on his horse, since it was a little taste of how AWESOME she could get at magic one day, but he was interrupted by something flying in through the corner of his eye. He quickly thrusted his staff to the right as a powerful ball of flame twisted and formed as it flew through the air and collided with a shaft of wood and steel in midair, the burning arrow burning up instantly and the steel arrow head flopping uselessly on the ground. Far away there was a man on a roof top, knotching another arrow from the looks of it. Far out of Elias' range.

Hahaha! Just kidding. He was completely in Elias range. He held his arrow up in the air, for just a second, readying to aim it. He would never get that far as Elias swiftly lifted his staff once more, a bright flash of light enveloped the tip as the sky seemed to thunder at the force of the spell itself. Far away, the mercenary prepared to fire the bow but was stopped by a flash of light. A violent, destructive blast of light that would be the last thing he ever saw. The bolt of lightning crashing down onto his fleshy body, steam erupting from his crumpled form as the blood inside his body boiled from the heat of the lightning and blasted from every opening he had. It was a painful, awful way to go, but Elias simple grinned. "Got one." Yeesh, these guys needed more resistance to magic. If someone tried that on him, it would of given him a headache at worst. Then again he had more magic resistance then the average bear.

"C'mon, I'll give you a lift." He looked at the militia who was congregating at the square, then back at the purple haired mage as he offered her a hand to clamber up upon the steed.

[Deleted]

With Ryuzaki fending off his opponent and the same going for Yaen, she decided to follow the plan correctly so both of them could fight in peace. She believed there were enough screw ups on her part today to not warrant anymore. As she followed the militia, she witnessed all of which unfolded between the mounted man and the far away archer. Jeez, that lightning magic sure was powerful! She sooo wanted a Thunder tome herself, but when she was still a pupil, her master just ABHORRED the thought of her wielding such a dangerous tome in her possession after she accidentally zapped the poor guy with his own Thunder tome...that she stole when he wasn't looking. Not to mention her odd-shaped fire balls used to smack him dead on too...though some days she did it on purpose since he was such a meanie. Ah, but that was enough of that. She needed to roast some baddies herself.

"Oh!" She was a little startled when she was given an offer to climb up, but eventually taking his hand with obvious excitement. She never fought on horseback before. "Thanks! I know this is a dire situation and all, but this is gonna be so sah-weeeeet!~...Erm...who are you, sir?" It was shameful to admit that she didn't even catch his name earlier. Guess at the time she was actually focusing on the severity of the situation to take the time to know a simple name. She wasn't goofing off as much as her usual, which was a big improvement and she totally deserved a bronze metal or something sort for it. Okay, maybe the metal can wait for now.

"I'm Vivian, by the way. But Vivi's totally easier!" She followed it up after properly positioning herself behind Elias and on the horse. She was a little nervous though, as she wondered if the movements of the mount would make it difficult to cast spells for a first-timer like her, but guess she'll cross that bridge when she gets there!