Clearing the Trail[Plot][Closed]

[Feren]

Feren was glad for the warning. It gave him the time needed to draw his blade and take a quick look around. Now that they were moving he could hardly believe he hadn't noticed them. He back stepped towards the cart, hoping to regroup with the others. He did not want one of the creatures grabbing him from behind. He was almost there when the first one reached him, its legs lashing out as it closed in. Feren didn't need to dodge the first couple strikes as he backed up. The third he redirected, stepping sideways towards the creature and allowing it's leg to glance off his shield while he struck downward. He heard a satisfying crunch but failed to severe the leg entirely. Carrying through, he thrust upwards towards the creature's maw but only managed a shallow cut as it pulled back. He lowered his stance, sword and shield falling back into a ready position as he continued his slow movements towards the cart.

[Reid]

Reid was completely absorbed in his writing, he had missed his queue to spring into action like everybody else. Something wasn't right... He kept hearing the sounds of movement, weren't they taking a bre-What in the, pardon his language, hell was that? It looked like a spider, but on a massive scale... Could this be a Bael that he's seen in a few books? Now he heard movement behind him, turning around he saw one quickly approaching him, the book that was once in his lap was on the ground next to his quill as he tripped backwards trying to flea.

Sweet mother of Roland this was intense, his mind was racing and the only thing he could think of was finding a spot to hide to so he could just observe how they move and attack their pray. It didn't take long before the realization that he was it's pray to set in, Reid had began to panic as he began to craw backwards as the monster scurried towards him. What should he do, what should he do. There was no time for him to think about it, he was now wimping in fear.


He wasn't a warrior, he had no means of defending himself. Well he did have the arts of Elder magic but he was too panicked to focus on casting a spell at this moment, if he didn't do something he will die. Then it was as if one of the gods had listened to his fearful cry for help, an arrow came whizzing towards the monstrosity hitting it in it's body. It hissed as it changed directions towards the archer, he had to do something but first he had to calm down.

[Kyle]

Kyle was too busy blocking out the noise that everyone was making before to notice that something had snuck up on them. The only reason he noticed is because the red haired man fell into his line of sight, a giant spider trying to attack him. Before Kyle could react however, an arrow cam and hit the spider drawing the attention away form the man.

The first thought that ran through Kyle head was to get his dog to safety, so with one quick command, he made his dog jump inside the wagon, away from the spiders. Kyle then hopped up on the wagon himself, with a couple others around, and took aim at the spider that the other archer had agitated, then let loose the polished stick at the target. However the angle was wrong and instead of piercing the exoskeleton the arrow merely reflected off and flew in a another direction. "Dam" Muttered Kyle under his breath as he readied up his stance again, only to realize that he only had one more arrow on him, the rest were in the quiver on his pack. So he took aim seeing if anyone needed help. Well any that he could give.

(Ooc: Anyone can use Kyle's second arrow, or the first if you really want too.)

[Aegis Hawk]

The fighting around Aegis would be loud for many inexperienced soldiers, but he had been disciplined for this kind of combat. His opposing Bael hissed as it painfully struck out with its good forearm once more, Aegis side-stepping the attack easily. The Bael had slowed from the pain it was in, but it wasn't giving up. It lunged forward suddenly, Aegis giving a slight startle at that as he raised his shield. The spider slammed into it with so much force that Aegis was sent falling back, his instinct kicking in as he used his momentum and tucked his sword tight and flat against the shield before tucking his armor as he neared the ground to go immediately into a roll. He'd righted himself and got right back up in a flash, readying his sword outward and cursing under his breath. The last thing he needed was to be sent to the ground, as his armor would slow any rise if he were to actually fall.

"Come on then, you big eight-legged fiend!"

Aegis snarled, thankful for the headband holding up his hair during his combat, finally charging in. The spider hissed and struck out, but rather than block it Aegis struck outward, the parry severing the already injured arm. The Bael let out a screech of pain, but Aegis didn't stop. Lowering his blade, he brought it up in a rising stab, the sword cracking through the bottom and then out the top of the Bael as it went still, standing for a few moments before Aegis pulled his sword back, the creature falling to the earth slain. However, he had no time to celebrate.

One of the ones that had been passive had slipped around to his side, only giving Aegis a warning as his horse neighed loudly. Turning, he saw a flash of an arrow to mark the creature getting struck, the shot hitting a section of its complex eyes as it wailed before lashing blindly toward the source, yet nowhere near to strike it. Aegis lunged in, planning to stab right through the spider's mouth, but shocked as it quickly side-stepped, the blade instead piercing the abdomen right before the Bael swiped the blade from his hand, the weapon stuck in the thicker hide before it swung both its arms. The brute force crashed into Aegis' shield, sending him rolling away, his shield thrown from such a hit. The only saving grace was that he finished rolling onto his stomach, his large knee guards making righting himself easier.

If not for his armor, he'd be in certain pain from the axe that had been slapping against him during that roll, but now it was the only grace he has as he pulled it from its sling, looking toward the wounded spider that hissed and approached as Aegis slowly rose. He didn't have his shield, but at least the Nabatan was still armed with his axe.

[Dietrich Landrik]

Pulling his blade from the heavy corpse, Landrik backed up breathing heavily. The smell of the Bael combined with its blood was entirely pungent and rank. Realizing the cart being of great importance, he held his sword up high jogging towards the cart. Jumping from the side of it was one that had an arrow sticking out of it, Berg still focusing intently on it. "We've got one up ahead! Fuchs, post flank security! Let's punch through this one and rally the caravan!" he commanded, cautiously looking just about everywhere to make sure he wasn't surprised. The combination of horses stampeding every which way and the triggered Baels either attacking them or making their way forward was entirely too much for Landrik to keep up with all at once.

It wasn't too long after he shouted his orders that one such spider crawled up towards them from the rear. Catching just a glimpse of the beast, Landrik had near to no time to react. Astonishingly, it lunged in with not only it's large upper legs that acted as spears, but came to bite down as well all part of a single attack. Dodging one of the legs and jamming his blade into the creature's gaping jaws, the other leg managed to pierce through his arm-pit, narrowly missing his artery and deflecting off the rib-cage. It pulled back, not having enough of a grip on the blonde swordsman in order to continue attacking rapidly. The shock and tearing sensation had Landrik cry out involuntarily in pain, clutching his wound as he scurried towards the cart as quickly as he could.

Berg, while not needing much in the means of accuracy at this range needed to make damn sure his arrows weren't going to bounce off the spider's head. They didn't have much time with a big ol' pissed off spider hastily heading right their way. No matter what happened, it had to go down in order for them to form a defense. "Fuchs! Let's kill this damn thing!" He called out, pulling back another arrow, taking his time aiming to get a good shot in as a shocker so Fuchs could deal with the crawlie.

Fuchs adjusted his brow plate. He saw Landrik get nearly killed, but they'd need to take a chance in order to kill the enemy they were all closing in on. Now it came down to all his experience with his halberd to cleave the Bael to pieces. 'start small' he repeated in his head, looking to get a good strike on one of its sharp forward legs or preferably a side leg if it was too careless. Much to Fuchs' surprise, an arrow came zooming in and struck it right in one of its eyes. His chance was now. He reared his halberd up overhead and brought it crashing down, piercing the Bael's head. However, it was still alive and royally pissed. It lashed out at the soldier who still had his weapon lodged in its head, the creature's fangs latching onto his thigh armor, some of them reaching just behind and digging into his flesh. Now with a massive creature practically on top of him he pulled out a dirk he had on his waist and started hammering the beast in the face to the best of his ability, screaming out in pain not only from it tearing at his leg, but it pushing him into the ground. Another arrow flying in, it killed the beast outright. A small sigh of relief came from the soldiers' lips.

Berg noticed Landrik starting to seize up as he stumbled towards the cart and was quick to wrap Landrik's arm around his shoulder and help him along the way. Just behind them the spider came forward once more, but a stampeding horse bolted past the spider, it instinctively lashing out - this time every bit sinking into the mare's neck it crying out with a very audible and wretched cry. Thankfully this saved the duo. Laying the bleeding man down at one of the wheels, Berg pulled his vulnerary out and put it in Landrik's hand. "You're going to have to patch yourself up. We're getting overran." he said calmly, turning around once more to do what he could against the blood-covered spider.

[Orcleous]

Orcleous tighten his grip on his sword. The Bael had came close to killing him last time. It was by luck he was able to dodge the claws and pull off a counter attack. If he made the same mistake again he doubted the monster would allow him to recover so fast. Orcleous had wounded its right forearm, but the beast seemed undaunted. It was sure to attack again. Orcleous needed to take control of the situation. Rather than let the monster come to him as he did before Orcleous decided he was going to be the one to attack. The mercenary tighten the grip on his blade and rushed forward.

Orcleous decision to attack did not catch the Bael off guard. The monster figured he would after it received the injury. Rather than lunch an assault itself it allowed Orcleous to come to it. Orcleous began his assault with a horizontal slash. That form of attack started to become the young swordsman go to move to begin a battle and in this instant it would come back to haunt him. The Bael waited and swung its left foe arm at the blade. The silver sword cut into the beast arm, but the pressure knocked the sword clean out of the mercenaries hand. The blade flew through the air and landed on the left side of the monster.

"Crap", shouted Orcleous as he knew what was coming next. With Orcleous sword removed from the equation the Bale attacked with full force. It attempted to pierce Orcleous with a stab from its left fore arm. The attack forced Orcleous to roll toward the beast right, as the Bale expected. With its right forearm it whacked Orcleous to its right side moving him further away from his silver sword. Orcleous at the moment thought he was finished. The monster would soon mount him and it would be all over. The Bale however was forced to stop from the pain. The blow Orcleous had done earlier on its right forearm was now serving as his shield. The pain from smacking Orcleous caused the Bale to pause giving Orcleous enough time to recover. Without wasting another moment Orcleous drew his iron sword. It was not the ideal weapon for fighting these creatures, but it was all he had. The Bale however had no intentions of letting Orcleous get near his silver sword. The spider monster attacked with full force as it launched itself at Orcleous. It made sure to place more of its body on the right side preventing the boy from rolling toward the blade.

As they both expected Orcleous rolled out to the right. The monster missed him by a narrow margin as it landed on the ground, and like before it swung its right forearm hoping to knock the boy over again. However the same trick would not work on Orcleous twice. As it swung Orcleous pulled down his iron sword and smashed it into the beast forearm. The blade was not sharp enough to cut through, but Orcleous hit beast arm on the opposite end of the wound he inflicted earlier. A shock wave of pain lunched through the Bale. The spider retreated in pain giving Orcleous a window to go for his silver blade.

"Come to papa", spoke Orcleous, but the spider was not having it. It rushed forward in hot pursuit trying to prevent Orcleous from reaching his sword. "Almost there", spoke Orcleous, but the boy was soon hit by a massive force. The Bale had jumped through the air and pounced on him. The weight of the massive spider had knocked Orcleous iron sword out of his hand. The spiders left forearm stabbed into Orcleous armor pinning him to the ground. It was now feeding time fore the spider. The spider reared up ready to send its fangs into Orcleous body, but a stray arrow from the battlefield flew from the spiders side and pierced on of its eyes. The monster screeched in pain and in its agony it removed is pincer from Orcleous armor. Orcleous was not going to let this opportunity pass him. The boy quickly rolled out and grabbed his iron blade in his left hand and picked up his silver sword in his right. After a moment of agony the spider turned to see where the arrow had came from, but its attention was turned back toward Orcleous as the mercenary scream filled the air.

With all the strength in his legs Orcleous hopped into the air. With both swords in his hand he jumped forward and stabbed both blades into the spiders eye section. The beast let out a cry like no other as its blood began to spill out. The beast struggled for a moment and then died. Orcleous then pulled his swords out of its body and fell back onto the ground. He was exhausted, but he could not rest long. He was not sure how many more of these things were around. Orcleous sheath his iron sword and gripped his silver blade in his hand.

[Aethan]

It didn't seem like the fight was in either side's favor right now. But, if he had to guess, Aethan could only figure the spiders were ahead by a slight margin. It was hard to tell for him, because right now he had a very limited sense of what the rest of the battle was like. He had only the focus on his opponent, and his peripheral vision keeping an eye on other threats.

Unlike his usual job, it seemed the spiders were actively going for the less armorer, less combative people. They were trying to pick off the weak. It was a shame for them, then, that they'd find no one weak here.

The Bael he had been dueling with came up for its second attempt. Aethan's gaze hardened on it though. Time slowed for the only instant he needed to see just what he needed to do. Those razor-like legs coming at him... He'd take that blow. They dropped on him, but Aethan moved forward just enough so that the legs scraped his armor and fell behind him, locking the Bael in a standing position.

Aethan let out something akin to a hearty laugh, sounding like a battle cry, as he took up his lance and drove it into the creature's underbelly, impaling it all the way through. Its legs twitched and panicked, its body unpredictable as it was in its death throes, until Aethan tilted it off to the side and let it fall off of his lance. It hit the ground, and died a slow death.

That was one. It wasn't an easy fight in the slightest, though, and there were plenty left to go. He wondered how many fights he had left before one found an opening in his armor, though. Two? Three? He wasn't a one man army, even if he wasn't taking things seriously. No, he wouldn't have too long to go before being overwhelmed.

Instead, he'd fall back to the cart. It was time to regroup.

"Everyone alright?" he called as he fell back to everyone, readying his lance for the next beast who'd chance coming at him. If nothing else, he could take the blows better than some of the men here now. He'd be the last line of defense as long as he needed to.

[Ryuzaki]

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNGH!" With a colossal effort, Ryu held onto his sword as the beast jerked again, but he was sent flying, landing behind the Bael, far away from the rest of the group, and the relative safety of the caravan wagon. "Damn."

Ryu looked around quickly with a growing feeling of dread. Not many of the beasts had been slain; although many were wounded, they were still dangerous. And he was isolated. Easy prey.

Sheathing his sword, Ryu pulled out his scythe, the wickedly curved blade catching the light and glimmering. It was his last hope. "All right, time to slice 'em and dice 'em," he muttered, circling toward the caravan as two monsters approached him. One was the one he'd injured, and the other seemed to be uninjured. This wasn't a good situation. As they rushed him, Ryu swung his scythe, but the leading Bael easily sidestepped the trap, continuing to charge. The uninjured spider wasn't so lucky -- Ryu's sweep successfully unbalanced it, slowing the monster's advance for the time being. But there was no time for exultations -- the injured Bael slammed Ryu in the side, sending the thief sprawling. The monster advanced, and, with what Ryu swore was a sadistic grin, slammed a foreleg down, puncturing through the thief's leg and pinning him and the monster to the turf together.

"Ehh... Eh..." Completely at a loss, Ryu felt cold dread sweep over him. In a bout of self-preservation, he choked up on the handle and shoved the blade upward with all of his might. Had it not been for the monster's weight already rushing down as it prepared to bite its meal, Ryu's attack would most likely have been ineffective; however, the combination of upward force and the Bael's gravity sent his scythe smashing through its maw, finally ending the beast, which collapsed directly onto the now even more trapped thief.

The weight began to bother Ryu... It was a heavy creature, and his leg hurt like hell. He needed help.

[Feren]

The wounded bael charged towards Feren. He was ready for it and stepped into and beside the attack. The first leg to lash out could not gain any momentum but still shoved him backwards enough that his slash only grazed the creature's side. He stepped forward, driving his blade between the creature's legs and into its side before it could turn to face him. It lashed out once more before collapsing to the ground, catching Feren in an awkward position and knocking him to the ground, his sword still lodged in the creature's side.

I hate these things.

He thought to himself as he struggled to catch his breath. He noticed the second bael just before it drove its leg down, grazing his arm as he pulled it away. As it lowered itself to bit him he drove the edge of his shield into its eyes. The creature backed up and gave him time to stand. He recovered his blade from the other bael but was unable to move out of the way of the creature's next attack. He got his shield between the leg and himself, but it was not enough to fully absorb the strike. Pain blossomed in his arm but he ignored it and ran to the side of the creature, instead of attacking it he ran towards the cart. It might not be the noblest of actions, but he'd take life over honor any day.

Wonder if honor really counts when fighting monsters anyway.

He grinned at the thought. Monster or human, he'd rather avoid fighting one on one. He reached the cart and turned to face his approaching foe with little time to notice those around him.

[Kyle]

This battle was turning into a hectic mess, spiders everywhere, some people trying to fight them alone. Fighting them alone was a bad idea. Or was it? He'd never fought baels before, or really too much of anything. Did they work better in groups? Would they win if the group came together? Seeing an opportunity to help someone he let loose his last arrow, and by some magical abnormality he actually hit his target.

As he scanned around for his backpack he finally noticed where it had come to rest, and nearby, the dreaded man was fighting a spider. Maybe the spider would outright kill him and he wouldn't have to deal with him again. The man however, was able to kill the spider, however he was stuck underneath and pinned to the ground by one of the beasts sharp legs. With his pack next to him. Great.

Jumping off the wagon, he tried maneuvering through the bael, unsuccessfully as on his way there one happened to catch his left arm leaving a deep gash. At least it was the arm he held the bow with. As he reached his destination he grabbed up his pack and slung it over his shoulder, then, looking down, he thought of how bad it would be to leave the man here. He would pay for what he did eventually, but not here, not now. Kyle proceeded to try to lift the spider, only able to get it up enough to where maybe the man could come out. Wait. His leg. Putting extra pressure on the beast with his torso to keep it up, he felt around until he found it protruding from his leg. Kyle wiggled it, a bit harder than necessary, until it came free from the man's leg. Why couldn't he even remember the man's name? Hadn't he heard it earlier? Oh well.The man needed to get out from underneath the bael, Kyle couldn't hold it forever. Once he'd gotten out, if he did. He'd surely help the many back to the cart, hopefully avoiding getting eaten by the spiders.

[Ryuzaki]

"Aaaaaah... That stings. Bad. Wow, that's quite painful"

Ryu wriggled out from under the Bael, shuffling onto his knees and helping shove the spider over. The ugly beast laid there, unmoving, as the thief yanked his scythe out of the beast's maw and winced again at the stabbing pains in his leg. Without a word, the man pulled out a vulnerary from his pack. About two-thirds of it was left; he'd let his buddy Rogus have a dose once. Tipping the vial to his lips, Ryu drained half of the remaining liquid, puckering his face at the combination of bitter, sour, and spicy. Why couldn't it taste palatable, at least?

"Here. That's a nasty gash; you might want to use this. Please, take it; I really can't thank you adequately right now." Standing up gingerly, the thief shook his head in disappointment. He'd be slow for a while. He needed to let the vulnerary work and heal the wound up; continuing to fight would be idiotic and counterproductive. Hooking the scythe back on his back, Ryu drew his sword and turned back to the other man. "We should get back to the others."

[Reid]

It didn't take Reid long to find a rally point, he had seen a small amount of the group heading towards the cart. If he was to find protection to concentrate that would be the ideal spot. Getting to his feet he forced his body to do something it wasn't used to, run. His lanky legs and tiny body allowed him to get behind the group of men fighting off one of the glorious creatures from text. "C-cover me." Reid commanded, hopefully his voice carried the urgency he had hoped for. He took in a few deep breaths and closed his eyes as he cupped his hands in front of his chest. He laced his fingers together as he extended his hands away from his chest for a second. If he was to prove he needed them to keep the Bael off of him he would have to aid them.


"I am the shadow, and the smoke in your eyes, I am the ghost that hides in the night." As he spoke his hands slowly began to become engulfed in a shadowy black mass that began to drip towards the ground he slowly pulled his hands apart holding the mass in place, his fingers twitched trying to hold the raw power of Elder magic in place. He shot open his eyes, as if he was staring into the soul of the Bael that was engaging the duo in front of him. The ball of black magic fell to the ground, as he heard the ooze splat against the rock under his feet he extended his arms out turning his hands facing the creature. He could see his magic dart off towards it, once it was underneath it he clapped his hands together. From there the black ooze spread out and shot upwards and closing in like a mouth onto it's target, the magic had began to seep into it's exoskeleton, he could hear it hiss as soon as it made contact. Reid was unsure how much pain it had inflicted but he hoped he was able to prove his worth to his comrades.

[Aegis Hawk]

As most of the party had rallied, they'd notice one, scary fact. The leader of the party was yet to reunite with them. The Hero was standing out alone, down to his axe only as he faced one of the Bael. It hissed loudly before lunging in, the Hero cursing under his breath. The axe was no sword, his trust weapon lodged in the creature's abdomen and separated from him until he could retrieve it. That meant the Nabata-born warrior would need to slay the Bael or remove it, which would be near suicidal without it already dead.

The Bael's first leg lashed out toward his right shoulder, Aegis raising and turning the axe in a wide, rising parry, the massive blade deflecting the leg. It was normally a sword parry, but Aegis had learned the weapon from self-teaching. The other leg, however, lashed out toward his gut. The armor gave a sickening thunk as it was dented, Aegis's face going pale as he instinctively tried to lurch over. He broke that instinct, however, by letting the force throw him back, rolling and carefully moving the axe outward to avoid any incident. Coming to his feet once more, he took a bold move.

"Time to die, fiend!"

The challenge was issued, getting a screech from his opponent as he lunged in, rolling forward. The beast was slow, expecting him to be far more cautious from his previous fight with its now-dead friend, which immediately turned foul as Aegis came up below the abdomen, turning out and diving while unleashing a deadly arced swing. His axe found its mark, the more powerful weapon cutting through the unarmored, back left legs of the Bael. It immediately went down, screeching as Aegis hit the ground with the full weight of his armor shaking him. It struggled to rise, but that wasn't the issue. Most of the Bael had been slain or were in combat, but those that weren't had fled to the hills. That is, save one that made its way toward Aegis now. Looking up, he saw the lurking Bael, paling slightly. However, his luck pulled through as a horse, the beasts still running wild, charged directly into the Bael and both were knocked down, the horse stumbling and neighing wildly as the panicked beasts' legs kicked and broke the last Bael to enter the fray.

One was injured beyond getting up, but Aegis was now in a race to rise before the horse-struck Bael could, his form visibly shaking. The downside to having his heavier armor meant falls onto this gravelly stone road weren't very nice ones if he didn't brace or roll out of them. As it began to rise first, however, Aegis caught a glimpse of his goal in the distance and a reason to finally stuff his pride.

"Gods, someone help! I can't...I can't rise to face it in time!"

His arms buckled, the pale color making him appear dead for someone with the Nabatan tan, well aware of how bad his situation was at the Bael rose once more.

[Dietrich Landrik]

Even with Landrik's adrenaline pumping like mad, the wound in his side was draining the life out of him. Fresh red, hot blood seeped from the wound and Landrik did what he could to remedy it with his vulnerary and bandages he always carried with him. Opening the pouch with one of his blood-soaked hands, he laid on his side and dumped its contents into his shirt right onto the wound. At first it was a terrifyingly bitter and sharp pain, but he could feel the effects almost immediately as it cooled down and had a soothing effect. He did his best to try and undo his armor so he could get straight to the wound, but it wasn't much use. Instead he held the bandage up against his wound and did his best to stand up using the spokes of the wagon wheel as support. He looked up to the red haired bookworm and the boy for help. "Please, I-I need help..." he said with his face drained of color, shaking. He was now leaning on the wheel with his full weight, using his good arm to hold on the best he could. He blinked, trying to clear his eyes and his head as his vision was rapidly narrowing.

Notching an arrow, Berg took another calm breath. Getting hyped up about the combat would only hurt his aim. The large man leveled his bow straight at the blood-covered creature and aimed with precision. It'd be the only way to effectively drop it. Knowing his shot was true, he let it loose towards its target. The arrow hit its mark, stunning the creature. By this time he saw something out of a horror story reach up and disappear into the spider. Berg's eyes went wide and his mouth gaped open as he couldn't believe what he saw. The spider itself didn't know what was going on until its internal organs were crushed by the foul magic. It stuttered and twitched, letting out a shrieking cry as it couldn't escape the pain that came from the attack. It started bleeding from its mouth and lurched forward if only in a blind rage.

Fuchs thanked the young boy as he managed to get out without much trouble. He pulled the dagger out of the beast's head and hastily jammed it into his belt. Looking behind him, he realized that Berg needed help. "I see him! Hold one moment!" he shouted, pulling out his halberd from the corpse. As he made his way forward, he noticed the sharp pain in his thigh, but limped forward regardless. He was the only thing that could physically stop this crazed spider from tearing his comrades apart. He was silent as he pushed on, but had a firm grip on his weapon. The spider charged forward the best it could, its legs stuttering and giving out on the way. Fuchs raised his weapon ready to make a strike as it looked he was going to have to halt the creature in its tracks. Not so, as the beast fell at his feet, blood pouring from its mouth. He looked behind him, Berg and the rest of the cart doing alright. He went over to join them, trying to find who else needed help gritting his teeth at his wound.

"Alright, Berg." Fuchs nodded towards his comrade. Berg nodded in return and ran towards the other side of the cart. "Landrik, we'll be right back." He said in a comforting, yet monotone voice.

[Aethan]

This was bad. Really, really bad. Anyone in their right mind would have held a reasonable fear of loss by this point. Considered their options, possibly suggested retreat, if not doing so themselves.

Aethan... He wasn't exactly someone most considered in their right mind. He realized the odds were against them. He didn't see many tactical options, and knew in his heart that there was a large possibility that he wasn't surviving this fight. Yet... All he could do was laugh more, with an energetic, optimistic, and partly crazed look in his eye.

He had targeted the same Bael that the elder magics worked havoc on. He wasn't quick enough to come close to getting there, and he was glad he didn't. Whatever... That was, he wasn't looking to get in the way of it. He cast an uneasy glance at Reid, then to the Bael once more. He was none too fond of dark magics. But... Better used for him than against him, right? He smirked.

Their fearless leader seemed to be having more trouble than this group. And that sneak, a moment before. Things were going downhill, fast. No... Wait. The Bael were... Retreating? Serendipity at its finest... Still, what he'd have given to have some range on his attacks. He'd have to break from the main group to try assisting Aegis. The sneak seemed taken care of... There weren't many options, were there? Besides, if Aegis died, so did his chance of payment.

With a grin on his face, Aethan charged forward, his armor clattering loudly as he did. He found a path through the remaining Bael, breathing heavily. He was in the zone. Or maybe he was just incredibly reckless, in this battle fervor.

"Got it!" he shouted as he passed by Aegis, lunging forward with his lance gripped in both hands. It wasn't so much a trained attack as it was falling on his opponent with the point of his weapon aimed at it. The Bael was quicker, and got a strike with its foreleg in, knocking Aethan to the side. He was turned by the blow, feeling sore underneath his armor now. No... He was bleeding. He could feel it now.

When he turned again to face the Bael, his lance came with him, and was driven straight into it. Past the mandibles. Into whatever small brain told the beast that they'd be easy food. It went limp after it was skewered.

"You alright?" Aethan called to Aegis, pulling his weapon from the beast while looking to see if there were anymore.