Return of the Emblem Chapter Four: The Human Condition

[Phoenix]

Gabbie took Blaine's attack and fell to the ground, but back rolled to her knees. Dammit ... right hand hurts like hell from the first hit, and my support hand just got thrashed. Something's broken, I can tell. she thought to herself.

Blaine laughed. "Rise up so I can finish you off for what you did to me, or better yet, just stay there on your knees, hahah!"

"Hmph." She immediately stood up and used her right arm to put pressure on where the axe had hit her, though she was careful not to aggravate the bone wound which wasn't far below. Amon meanwhile rushed over to help and try to cover her escape.

"You should get out of here." he said holding his knife defensively.

"... you seriously foight with that thing?" she asked, surprised.

"It's probably not a good idea against a lance, but against someone like this guy I'm probably fine." he reassured her.

"Looks loike he's got a vuln on'em. Don't let'em use that ... common sense, roight?" she said taking a few steps back.

Amon immediately eyed the item she was talking about and plotted a quick maneuver in his head. "... ... ... got it." he muttered before bursting into a sprint and flanking Blaine! He leaped onto the saddle facing the bandit and slammed his elbow into his face buying just enough time to swipe what looked like a vulnerary. Blaine swung at him wildly but Amon had already leaped off and landed surprisingly close to Gabbie again given the distance. All Blaine managed to do was take a little off the top of his horse's mane.

"Hey, you want this?" he asked before suddenly realizing it wasn't a vulnerary. "W-wait, this looks like something else ... uhhh ..."

"Oh hey, a stimulant. Well that woulda been just as bad as watchin' the guy heal so good job, Rexboy." she replied cheerfully.

Amon stole a stimulant!

[Phoenix]

ENEMY PHASE

Blaine quickly charged toward Amon hoping to cut the thief down immediately. He put away his axe for the moment and switched to his precise sword just to make sure the thief wouldn't dodge him and attacked.

Blaine rolls 1,2,3

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3036904/

HIT!

-5 hp

Blaine hp 7/15

Amon hp 4/9

Blaine (Aggressive) 4/15 (PS equipped +3 hit)

Ebony (Passive-Aggressive) 12/12

---------------------------

Mounted Bandit A 0/12

Mounted Bandit B 0/12

Ranged Bandit A 0/12

---------------------------

Mounted Bandit C 12/12

Mounted Bandit D 12/12

Ranged Bandit B 0/12

---------------------------

Mounted Mage Bandit A (Rather Neutral if I do say so myself) 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit B 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit C 9/9

---------------------------

Mounted Mage Bandit D (Neutralized) 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit E 9/9

Mounted Mage Bandit F 9/9

OTHER PHASE

[GoD]

As Chelsea learned to hum along with Gytha and co., although she did not sing or let her humming be heard, because she was afraid. Afraid of what? The troubador did not know. Perhaps it was the fact that she was not actually part of this group? Yes....that might be the case. These people got along so well, like a real family. And what about herself? She did not wish to interact with the others, even though she longed to understand them. No, she was merely seeking companionship, after what happened at the village.

Chelsea cringed as she was eating her bread, that was kindly given to her by Nanahm. That incident....even though she was in the right. They threw her out without a second thought, all because she stood for him and other dark mages. Tch, bastards, as if they could understand. Nevermind that however, she was thinking about her acceptance into this group. If she recalled they didn't care much, nor did she. However...she was beggining to suspect that maybe, just maybe that she actually liked being here, since after all, Raquel's group was an awesome bunch. Especially Nanahm- "Wooooooaaaah Back up"- she blushed a bit as she was drinking her water. She was a cleric-sorta.

After a while Chelsea began to hear yelling from outside, but she paid no head to it, seeing as it held no concern. That and Gytha was sure to have the situation under control, she was sure about that. What next she heard was the clash of swords and magic. Chelsea tried to prepare herself for the upcoming battle, however something ardous and painful overcomed her, and she fell to the ground clutching her chest. "Damn it...why NOW of all times. They need me!!!"- she cursed as she made her way outside, her trusty steed Nesha by her side. She had decided not to participate in this battle, seeing as she was in no shape to be fighting. By the time the second battle had started she was up, and ready to fight.

[Guest Wen Yang]

Other Phase

"Tch. What fools." In a way, Salicia almost felt insulted for being ignored. Not that it's stopping her from doing her work. Notching another shaft to her bowstring, she took aim at one of the few remaining mages, and let fly.

4 - 6 - 4

AUTO HIT!

Damage Calc: 5 + 6 - 1 = 10 Damage.

The man toppled over, the arrow skewering him through the throat. If he was not dead yet, he would be very soon.

"Too easy."

Salicia: 9/9

Mounted Mage E: 0/9 DEAD

5 points earned for Tatyana/Salicia/Tsukiko

On the other hand, one of the other remaining enemy mages saw Tatyana coming, and tried to blast her with magical force as she approached. She nimbly dodged out of the way, flicking a small throwing knife at the man at the same time. The knife hit, causing nothing more than a flesh wound, but it did its job, namely distracting the man, who failed to react fast enough when Tatyana plunged her dagger into his stomach and disemboweled him without missing a step.

2 - 3 - 4

Hit calc: 6 + 2 - 6 = 2 = HIT

Damage Calc: 4 + 3 - 1 = 6 Damage.

DOUBLE ATTACK!

6 - 3 - 6

AUTO-HIT!

Damage Calc: 4 + 3 - 1 = 6 Damage.

Tatyana: 4/9

Mounted Mage C: 0/9 DEAD

5 points earned for Tatyana/Salicia/Tsukiko

Liz and Jorge teamed up on another enemy cavalier. The man tried to put up a fight, but a well-placed parry from Jorge left him open, an opening both exploited to dismember the poor bandit.

Liz's attack

1 - 2 - 5

Hit calc: 4 + 1 - 4 = HIT

Damage Roll: 6 + 2 - 3 = 5 damage

Mounted Bancit C's counter:

6 - 6 - 4

Jorge Defended Liz!

Hit Calc: 4 + 6 - 3 = Hit

Damage Calc: 3 + 6 -11 = 0 damage!

Jorge's counterattack:

6 - 3 - 3

CRITICAL HIT!

Hit Calc: 3 + 6 - 4 = Hit

Damage Calc: 5 + 3 - 3 = 5x2 = 10 Damage

Liz: 6/12

Jorge: 4/15

Mounted Bandit C: 0/12 DEAD

8 Points earned for Liz/Jorge/Isis

Tsukiko and Isis teamed up on the last mage, and although the woman tried to fight back, she soon found herself with a spearhead through both lungs, ending all resistance on the spot.

Tsukiko's Attack:

4 - 2 - 5

Hit Calc: 4 + 4 -6 = Hit

Damage Calc: 5 + 2 - 1 = 6 Damage

Mounted Mage F's Counter:

2 - 3 - 1

Hit Calc: 4 + 2 - 8 = MISS!

Isis's Attack:

2 - 4 - 2

AUTO-HIT!

Damage Calc: 3 + 4 - 1 = 6 Damage

Tsukiko: 12/12

Isis: 12/12

Mounted Mage F: 0/9 DEAD

5 Points earned for Liz/Jorge/Isis

Enemy List:

Blaine (Aggressive) 7/15

Ebony (Passive-Aggressive) 12/12

---------------------------

Mounted Bandit A 0/12

Mounted Bandit B 0/12

Ranged Bandit A 0/12

---------------------------

Mounted Bandit C 0/12

Mounted Bandit D 12/12

Ranged Bandit B 0/12

---------------------------

Mounted Mage Bandit A (Aggressive) 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit B 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit C 0/9

---------------------------

Mounted Mage Bandit D (Aggressive) 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit E 0/9

Mounted Mage Bandit F 0/9

Edited May 23, 2011 by Wen Yang

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika

As the enemies fell around them, Veronika decided to attack the final axe cavalier. She sliced him twice and then dodged his attack, though he was still alive.

(3,1,6,)= Hit. 2 damage.

(3,6,3)= Hit. 7 damage.

Mounted Bandit D 3/12

Veronika 8/12

Connor

"Um, lean on me if you need help to get back to the wagon Gabbie," Connor offered, looking nervously at the mounted man with the sword. He seemed rather busy fighting some thief guy for the moment though.

Nadya

As she walked closer, Nadya heard several sounds resembling pain and dying. Well that doesn't dound good. Hopefully the winners aren't the sort of folk who just kill random healers for sport. she thought to herself, picking up her walking pace a little.

Edited May 23, 2011 by -Cynthia-

[Acacia Sgt]

'Not many left...' John observed. He noticed Veronika attacking a still-alive enemy. ''Come on Gil!'' He ordered, to which the wyvern then flew towards the enemy rider.

Target: Mounted Bandit D

Rolls:http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3037175/

(3,6,5)

Hit: 4+3-2(WTD)=5>4 HIT

Damage: 5+6=11-3=8

HP: 3-8=<0 DEATH

The rider took the attack in full, adding to his already-present injuries, resulting in his death.

[Remaining HP:

Mounted Bandit D: 0/12

John: 13/15]

[Axel, Veronika, and John +5 points. John's current total: 83.]

Edited May 23, 2011 by Acacia Sgt

[ReformBlade]

Seeking a greater challenger, Nanahm eyed Ebony. She seemed a bit better than the rest, competent even. As he watched the former enemies around him cleaning up the lesser opponents, Nanahm charged across the field, his sights set solely on her. He took a spin to gain some momentum and hopped and swung as hard as he could at the woman as she pulled her shield up to block it. Unfortunately, it shattered under the power of the swing, and his axe crashed through, chopping into the lady's side pretty deeply... She dropped like a sack of bricks.

(http://invisiblecast...r/view/3037189/)

(3 6 6, WTA on my end, murder on her end.

6+6-4 then doubled is 16. Oops...)

(+5 points to Nanahm and Chelsea)

Edited May 23, 2011 by SlaveBlade

[Phoenix]

Connor had come over to help which shocked Gabbie beyond belief. "Hey, what the hell, man?! I'm supposed to protect you, not the other way around!" Ugh, just deal with it for now. You can't do jack with both your arms like this so it's time to back off. "Never moind, let's just get back to the wagon. Rexboy, can you cover us, or did that bastard hit you too hard?" she asked.

"I'll help you guys out." he barely got out staggering a bit.

"... he's fucked." she muttered. "Alroight, let's go."

[Mercakete]

Gytha was mad now. The cavelier had attacked her friend. Ignoring her injurries, she charged right for him, aiming to settle this.

(4+4)-5 = 3 = hit!

(5+4)-4 = 5 damage!

Blane KO!

Gytha knocked the man off his high horse with a stab through the gut, leaving him to bleed to death on the ground. "So..." Gytha started, beginning to get tired from all her bloodloss, "Do we keep fightn' everyone else..?"

+5pts to Gytha, Amon and Synthia

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bert was about to charge the man for another pass when he saw the girl with the gun from before defeat him. "HEY!!" He flew over in a rage, stopping and landing only when his pegasus' face was right up to the woman's, "THAT WAS MY KILL!!"

"Ye shoulda said somethin'," Gytha replied, not in the mood for arguing. Really, she was in the mood for healing and rest.

"WHAT DO YOU CARE ABOUT KILLING BANDITS ANYWAY?! YOU'RE JUST A PIRATE WENCH YOURSE--"

The sound of Gytha's pistol firing resounded, causing the pegasus to duck down. The shot missed, flying harmlessly over Bert's head. "I miss at close range only intentionally," she mentioned, glaring daggers at the dark-haired man, "Here's a warnin' for ye: Never...and I mean never call me a pirate or a wench. Next time yer head's comin' off."

"I'd like to see you try!" Bert shot back, swinging his axe at Gytha.

((3-2)+3)-7 < 0 miss!

In his rage and since his pegasus was a bit stiff-moving from the gunshot, Norbert missed when Gytha side-stepped to avoid his attack. Annoyed with his behavior, Gytha struck back.

((4+2)+4)-6 = 4 = hit!

(5+1)-3 = 3 damage!

The blade hit, cutting into Norbert's previously uninjurred side.

Norbert 6/15

Gytha 5/18

"SEAFARING SWINE!!" He struck again.

Autohit!

(4+2)-3 = 3 damage!

Gytha was getting tired and couldn't move out of the way this time. Bert's attack cut into her shoulder again. The mariner let out a cry which turned from painful to vengeful and she attacked him again.

((4+2)+4)-6 = 4 = hit!

(5+4)-3 = 6 damage!

Norbert 0/15

Gytha 2/18

Finally, Gytha knocked Norbert off of his pegasus, slashing at his side again and hitting the flat of her blade hard against the back of his head. His pegasus whinnied in alarm, standing over her unconcious rider worriedly and protectively. "Urg... What does it take to get him to shut up..?" Gytha was getting a bit dizzy herself, and wound up falling backwards into a seated position to rest.

[roymbrog]

Synthia felt very useless right now. Slumped against the wagon, injured as she was, there really didn’t seem to be a way for her to help. At least the battle was going better, she thought. She watched as Connor helped Gabbie stumble back to the wagon followed by Amon. At least she could help here.

“Hey, Amon, over here,” she called, trying to keep from wincing as she moved her arm. She healed him when he was close enough, then glared at her currently useless left arm before yelling at the other two returnees. “Hey, kid, bring Loudmouth over here and I’ll try fixing her arms.” She didn’t remember their names at the moment, but that was beside the point. She probably wouldn’t have called Gabbie by her name anyway.

Amon is healed!

+9 HP

Amon’s HP: 9/9

[-Cynthia-]

Connor

"Well you still protected me I think. You took that axe better than I would've," Connor said to Gabbie, bringing over to the staff lady as best he could. I guess Loudmouth is a fair nickname, Gabbie always does run her mouth a lot. he thought to himself.

Veronika

Searching the battlefield, Veronika noticed that most of their group seemed to be up, though some were quite wounded. She also noticed that most of the mysterious group from before was still around. Keeping her sword drawn, she approached the woman with the scythe once again.

"So, after that interruption are we back to you feeding us to your wyvern?" she asked calmly, prepared to strike.

Nadya

Nadya showed up on the scene, which involved a lot of dead bodies and a number of people limping around. Most of the action had stopped...though a nearby gunshot drew her attention. The woman who shot the pistol fell into a seated position after knocking a guy out. Nadya decided she might as well walk over and introduce herself.

"You're bleeding y'know," Nadya said rather casually to the woman, as if she were discussing the possibility of rain later in the day. "I can probably patch that up for you. I'll fix up your friends too, if I get some compensation. Well, assuming your friends aren't all the dead guys," she said, shrugging.

[Mercakete]

"No, they were no friends o' ours. Bandits," she answered, smiling somewhat half-heartedly at the joke, "Aye, I'd appreciate it. What sort o' compensation would ye like? Best t' discuss it with Raquel, though. She's th' lady with th' pink hair."

[Acacia Sgt]

With the battle over, John decided to go back up high, and scanned around the area, if perhaps there weren't even more people itching for a fight or something. 'That was unusual, teaming with the same guys we were fighting just moments ago.' He though, then looked back directly down the battlefield. 'Well, I'm thankful for that anyway. Now I hope they won't want to resume the fight. They don't seem to have been that injured unlike our group.'

That's when he noticed someone else had arrived. A woman. 'Who might that be...?' He wondered.

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya applied her Mend staff to the woman's side. "Good as new! Well not quite, you'll probably want to put a bandage on it and not stick anything sharp there for a few days. See ya," she left the woman and searched the battlefield for a pink-haired lady. She found her near the wagon and began talking.

"Raquel, right? I'm Nadya, and you're apparently a person who needs some healing done. I work for relatively small amounts of coin and maybe some horse food," she said, noticing the horses attached to the wagon. "We can talk specifics later if you'd like, probably bad practice to let people bleed out while we're discussing rates," Nadya said rather quickly, waving her hand in a quick greeting.

[MinunRobotnik4]

OOC: Sorry about my late first post, I have been busy.

IC: Several guards armed with both lances and torches were scouring the area around the villa of a minor Ursium noble. The house was in an uproar and the guards were searching both inside the mansion and the surrounding country. The reason was that the prized gem that was left in a vault was missing. The master of the house immediately roused all of his men as soon as he had heard of this.

"You two look over there, and you three are with me" the captain said to the five companions that were with him.

They all nodded before going the way instructed to them. The two that went the other way appeared could be described as big and bigger with being muscular while the other just being quite rotund but taller. They both kept walking on their way until they came to a fork in the road.

"So where did this thief run off to anyway?" the shorter muscular man said.

"I don't know," said his companion.

"Wait is that, no wait that's a bunny."

"So we still have problem."

"Alright who is ready to go and find this thief?"

"Right behind you," Saken said as he thrust two stolen kitchen knives into the shoulders of both men.

"Don't worry, most men don't die from it if they are found," he said as the two fell over.

"Still this will be the last time you see me. Farewell," he said as ran off into the woods.

Edited May 23, 2011 by MinunRobotnik4

[Mercakete]

"Eh, might as well get this'un o'er t' th' others..." Gytha sighed as she got up and walked towards Bert only to be snorted at as his pegasus got in her way. "Hey, I'm just tryin' t' help'im," she mentioned before wriping her sword on the ground and sheathing it. The pegasus whinnied back loudly in reply, shaking her mane. "By Leviathan..." she muttered. The mariner knew she wouldn't feel right about just leaving the man there but what else was she supposed to do? Instead, she walked over in the direction that Nadya headed, hoping to find some help for him.

[Guest Wen Yang]

"That depends on your answer, hothead." Liz said in reply. Behind her, the rest of her people readied themselves for further combat if needed, with Salicia already nocking another arrow to her bow. She also noticed Sergei stirring somewhat, which was good. At least they did not take any further injuries from these "bandits", unlike the other side.

"Had you just minded your own business, we'd all be happily out of your way by now, but no, you just had to come over and provide complications." She added. "We can do this the easy way, where we might be able to come to an arrangement, or the annoying as fuck way, where we proceed with the original plan. Your choice."

[Phoenix]

VICTORY

New point average is: 164

[-Cynthia-]

"You are the ones willing to kill passerbys; we didn't even know what was going on necessarily. Still, I suppose we can leave such grievances behind for time being. I have no desire to continue fighting, what is your proposal?" Veronika asked Liz, not relaxing her stance an inch.

[Guest Wen Yang]

"We can make our peace, pretend this never happened, and go on our ways..." Liz said, flexing her left arm a bit, where the darned thief cut at her earlier. Behind her, none of her team relaxed their stances, each one ready to charge at a moment's notice. "Or we can always get back to killing each other, which I admit has a charm of its own."

"Although I suspect we might all have had our share of killing for the day."

[Acacia Sgt]

'Don't tell me they might...?' John sighed, still up high, noticing the other group had taken battle positions once more. 'Things didn't looked good the first time for us.'

John took another look around. 'Well, it doesn't look someone else is coming this way.' He returned looking down. 'Now what it will be...?' He started wondering.

[-Cynthia-]

I've had enough killing to last me a lifetime these past few days. Veronika thought to herself. "I would prefer the former rather than the latter. We have other business to attend to than dealing with...assassins and their odd notions about proper wyvern feeding habits," Veronika said, figuring her allies would back her up if things got ugly.

[Phoenix]

Luca had been following Nadya somewhat closely the whole time and was careful not to trample any of the corpses or trip over any of the fallen horses. He slowed down somewhat when he eyed a pouch on one of the fallen bandits. His body continued moving but his head homed in on the pouch as he passed and he turned his whole body around and stopped to yank it free. This one rang with the sound of coins. Whether they were bronze or silver he didn't know but every little bit helped. With that finished, he continued along and stopped when it was clear Nadya had reached the buyers.

When did she get here? Raquel thought to herself. "Oh, hello. Nice to meet you, Nadya. You're right, we could really use some help here ... especially with those seven still around." she added quietly. We'll discuss payment once you're finished I guess." she replied giving her horse a glance. Having been spotted, Luca took the whole pouch into his mouth to hide it, and then turned to some other direction.

Edited May 23, 2011 by Phoenix

[Guest Wen Yang]

"I would not be against letting you go off, personally. I think we both could use some time to tend to the wounded... although I don't know if some of yours are still salvageable... In the head, that is." Liz answered, glancing to look at the still out-cold Pegasus rider who fought with someone else she assumed were also with the group and got hammered down for his troubles. "As long as I can be sure that you won't go and blab your mouth to the nearest Magistrate, I would say we can part... amicably and in one piece... mostly."

She lowered her scythe as she said so, but still kept it in a grip where she can get it back to fighting position in the blink of an eye.

[ReformBlade]

As Nanahm finished his opponent, he cracked his neck, looked about and let out a huge sigh of relief. His mind wandered a bit, almost forgetting about the previous group they were fighting until his employer started talking to them again. He walked over to two, standing near Veronika, holding his axe over his shoulder. He was the only one that had taken one of their's out of commission. They wouldn't fuck with him (Unwarranted Bravado).