Return of the Emblem Chapter Eight: Affairs of the World

[-Cynthia-]

Veronika got up from the sands with combined healing powers of Chelsea and Sophia. She thought about saying thanks, but on the battlefield there was little time for such pleasantries. Maybe I should be a little less bold in the future... she thought to herself.

"Hey Bert!" she called out to the hovering pegasus knight. "Cover me while we deal with these reinforcements!" she shouted moving towards the horsemen.

[Acacia Sgt]

It was a peculiar thing. They were downing the incoming reinforcements, but the majority of the initial enemies were still alive. John saw another horse archers, injured, and took the opportunity, ordering Gil to make another dive.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3418799/

(6,2,6)

AUTO-HIT

6+2 = 8-0 = 8 DAMAGE

The impact stroke true, and the horseman fell, dead.

[+5 points for Veronika/Bert/John. John's current total: 32.]

Sophia hurried to find another person in need of healing. She found it in Blake, who was as well stunned from the impact of that woman's grenades.

I don't think I can remove the paralysis. She thought as she used her staff. But I can at least take care of the wounds.

[blake's HP +12. Current HP: 15/15. +2 points for Aneda/Chelsea/Sophia. Sophia's current total: 24.]

[Mercakete]

Sure enough, the horsemen came to join the battle. His warning seemed to have helped and Blake took out the leader of the enemy as well as the swordsman with the grenades...which was mildly annoying, but since it saved him the trouble of taking another grenade to the chest, he was grudgingly grateful for Blake's continued efforts. Another interesting thing was that one of the horsemen -- a horsewoman, actually, on closer inspection -- was attacking the other horsemen. A turncoat? Hmm. We should probably not attack that one and see if she speaks Common later, to get some answers. Unless one of us knows Rexian. I think I might've heard the nomad speaking Rexian before... That was when Veronika called him over. Weird. What does she want? Wait, cover her?

He had Riz lower her altitude until she landed next to the swordswoman. "Glad to see you're on your feet again. You picked an interesting person to protect you, though," he informed. He was going to say he might've looked fine, but his chest ached from the explosion he suffered and his breath was too short to feel confidant in shielding someone else, but then he shut up. I shouldn't be complaining right now. I may not feel like it but like heck I'm going to show weakness.

"Did you see that horsewoman attacking the other horsemen? I think we shouldn't attack her outright as long as she's fighting our enemies. We should still be cautious, though. In the meantime, pick a target," he shifted the conversation somewhat as he readied Splinter and Crunch, "I'll intercept any attacks heading your way and make them wish they'd surrendered."

Norbert defends Veronika!

[-Cynthia-]

Nadya went over and healed Bert. He seemed to be heading into combat soon and she figured it was a good idea if he didn't get himself killed Bert healed 15/15 Nadya Mireille +2

"John's busy and you were nearby," she answered dismissively, before coming upon a man wielding a lance. The mysterious horsewoman would have to wait until later.

She slashed him twice, but he did not fall.

(1,3,1)= Hit. 10-3= 7 damage.

(1,3,2)= Hit. 10-3= 7 damage.

The cavalier was on his last legs, but struck at Bert, wounding him slightly.

(5,1,2)= Hit. 7-4= 3 damage Bert 12/15

Bert struck back and smashed the cavalier with his maces.

(2,1,1) Critical Hit!= 8-3= 5x2= 10 damage. Cavalier B down! John, Bert, Nika +5 points

"That'll do," she said to Bert, mildly impressed.

[Mercakete]

The ache began to lift, but Veronika was already running at the enemy, so Norbert didn't have time to see what the source of his healing was. He assumed it was a staff-user from their side, though. Veronika landed two solid hits on the horseman. He was about to jab his lance at her when Norbert had Rizen dive at the horseman, which startled both rider and horse, though the Rexian still managed to ram the end of his lance into Norbert's side, though with much less force than he initially meant, obviously. Norbert's tough, leather armor stopped the tip from reaching his skin -- or even from reaching his tunic underneath the jerkin -- but the impact still made the pegasus rider flinch.

That could bruise. Oh well. he thought lightly before whipping Splinter at the Rexian horseman, landing a solid, powerful blow to his opponent's rib cage. And there it was: that familiar feeling of bone breaking under the crushing force of his maces. As the rider cried out in pain, he fell out of his saddle and wound up holding his side in the sand. For half a moment, Norbert watched the man as his horse ran away. He wouldn't be getting up for the rest of the fight, most likely.

"That'll do."

Veronika gained his attention again. She seemed to be dismissing him. Guess I did what she asked me to. he shrugged at the thought. The two weren't exactly friends, not doing much more than regarding that the other existed most of the time, so there wasn't really a reason to stick around. "Might as well keep this one for questioning later. I think Nadya knows Rexian, if he doesn't know Common," he mentioned to Veronika before pondering what he'd do next. If that horsewoman is fighting our enemies, might as well let her keep doing that. If she decides to attack us, it shouldn't be hard to bring her down, but I don't want Raquel, Ranyin or someone else who wouldn't do well with a lance in their gut to be the one to find out she's not friendly. If she's for us, then we might be able to help her out. She's sort of fighting by herself.

With a little nod to his thoughts, Norbert took to the air on Rizen again, flying over the battle towards the somewhat-confusing horsewoman. The flight didn't take much time and soon he was landing near her. "Do you speak Common?" was the first thing he asked. He was wary, though, keeping a hand on Splinter's grip as he addressed her and keeping enough distance between them that he'd have a bit of warning before she attacked him, if she chose to.

[Ether]

Cradling the arrow wound afflicting her shoulder, Faatina noticed the horseman who had afflicted the wound had been downed by a Wyvern Rider before she could finish him off.

<"Damn... that stings..."> She muttered to herself, before hearing the sounds of a descending flier a little too close for comfort, and readying her lance in preparation.

Before she could thrust the point towards the newcomer, however, he spoke up and asked her whether she spoke common. Looking him over, it was obvious he was one of the foreigners she had been pursuing. Lowering her lance to a more relaxed position, she turned to him fully.

"It would be in your best interest to make yourself known post-haste when you mean no harm, had you waited a moment longer to speak, my lance may have found itself a home inside of you or your mount." Faatina noted, cringing as the movement caused the arrow to shift in her shoulder.

"Regardless, I'm glad for it. You are the foreigners who recently left Sanctuary." Faatina continued with purpose.

"I've been looking for you. I'm glad I finally caught up."

[Phoenix]

Battle Continues

"Healers?" Raquel echoed, a little confused by what Robin had said. They needed their healers to tend to their own people, not worry about the enemy. The blast from Jalil's attack had both gotten Raquel's attention and nearly blinded her, but Blake got the worst of it, being stunned on impact. She quickly used her Restore Staff on him to remove the lingering energies and allow him to move freely again. Gytha was still down, so he was the only thing left standing between her and the enemy. The misplaced shot from the archer had indeed gone completely unnoticed, but she saw him reloading then became nervous.

Raquel uses Restore Staff on Blake!

All status aliments removed!

Unlike before, she wasn't willing to keep her empowerment up at all cost. She was going to be attacked sooner or later, and there were enemies on all sides. That was when she reached for a vulnerary to heal herself and didn't find one. "Oh no ...." she uttered quietly to herself. Next she looked back to the wagon, and noticed that it was a lot further away than she was hoping. Gabbie seemed to still have a vulnerary or two, since she happened to be taking one right then and there.

"Urgh, never enough friggin' healers." she muttered before chugging a third of hers down. Fighting would have to wait a moment longer while the old wounds healed.

Gabbie uses a Vulnerary!

+10 hp

2/3 remaining

Gabbie hp 18/18

Gabbie quickly noticed Raquel looking over at her. "What? Oh don't tell me you forgot yours ..." Raquel quickly looked away. "Pff ... dumbass." Gabbie laughed.

[-Cynthia-]

Some of the warriors moved forward to replace their fallen comrades...

Omar (Erratic) 0/30

Jamal (Erratic) 0/15

Jalil (Erratic) 3/15

--

Wyvern Rider A (Defending) 0/21

Archer A (Subvert) 15/15

Mage A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Cavalier A(Aggressive) 0/15

Horseman A(Aggressive) 15/15

Troubadour A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Cavalier B(Aggressive) 0/15

Horseman B(Aggressive) 0/15

Troubadour B(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Myrmidon A(Aggressive) 15/15

Fighter A(Aggressive) 24/24

Shaman A(Aggressive) 15/15

--

Wyvern Rider B(Defending) 21/21

Archer B(Passive-Subvert) 15/15

Mage B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

--

Myrmidon B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

Fighter B(Passive-Aggressive) 24/24

Shaman B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

Edited March 17, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Mercakete]

Norbert nearly readied his maces when she suggested harm towards Rizen, backing up his pegasus slightly even further away from her. "I'll introduce myself however and whenever I want! And don't you dare threaten my pegasus!" it was loud enough to be quiet yelling. He shifted his tone slightly to be more of just wary than aggressive, though, "Why were you looking for us? More to the point, are you an enemy of ours and of these other Rexians or just them?" I don't know what to think of her yet. She could be wanting out of that witch-run city if she can fight like this, but she might just be making this up. I'm not confidant enough to let her near anyone else yet.

[GoD]

"Don't worry Raquel! I'll fix you up."- Chelsea told Raquel as the troubadour managed to make her way to the not-so enchanting enchantress. Holding her staff high, she gave Raquel some much-needed healing.

Chelsea heals Raquel for 8 Hp, completely healing her.

Raquel 18/18HP

Chelsea team gets 2 points!!!

[Phoenix]

Hah!

"Thank you, Chelsea!" Raquel called out, both happy and relieved. Gabbie muttered. Of course the leader would get priority. Good thing she could take care of herself, she figured.

[Ether]

"I've wanted to leave Sanctuary as long as I can remember. Women aren't allowed the right to fight there... I could never leave because braving the desert alone is suicide. When I heard of your group, I knew you were the only chance I had to leave." Faatina replied honestly.

"Do as you wish, but I wasn't threatening, you, only giving some advice. It would be no fault but your own if you descended too fast and were struck down in a battlefield's confusion. But regardless, could you direct me to one of your healers? Now is not the time for such things."

[-Cynthia-]

The offending swordsman was healed by his allies. "<Get the healers!>" Jalil ordered, before giving the swordsman a good solid stabbing.

(5,5,3)= Hit! 7-2= 5 damage! Blake is poisoned!

The archer decided to follow Jalil's command and take aim at the one who had just healed their leader, hitting her solidly.

(3,4,2)= Hit! 10-0= 10 damage! Chelsea 5/15

The horseman took aim at the opposing archer who had shot his comrade and yelled something in a language he did not understand.

(2,6,1)= Hit! 9+6= 15-3= 12 Robin 0/12

The myrmidon decided to attack the nearby pegasus knight, slicing one of his tendons to slow him down so that he could land another attack.

(1,2,1)= Hit! 7-4= 3 damage! Bert loses 1 Spd!

(2,3,4)= Hit! 8-4= 4 damage! Bert 8/15

The fighter decided to deal with the apparently Rexian rider who had appeared. As she asked for a healer he brought his axe down upon her.

(5,4,5)= Autohit! Faatina takes 14-5=9 damage! Faatina 0/15

The shaman turned his attention upon the wyvern rider, knowing that armor and shields could not hope to stop elder magic.

(4,4,2)= Hit! 13-0= 13 damage! John 3/24

Blake takes 3 damage from poison. Blake 7/15

Omar (Erratic) 0/30

Jamal (Erratic) 0/15

Jalil (Erratic) 3/15

--

Wyvern Rider A (Defending) 0/21

Archer A (Subvert) 15/15

Mage A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Cavalier A(Aggressive) 0/15

Horseman A(Aggressive) 15/15

Troubadour A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Myrmidon A(Aggressive) 15/15

Fighter A(Aggressive) 24/24

Shaman A(Aggressive) 15/15

--

Cavalier B(Aggressive) 0/15

Horseman B(Passive-Aggressive) 0/15

Troubadour B(Passive-Aggressive) 0/15

--

Wyvern Rider B(Defending) 21/21

Archer B(Passive-Subvert) 15/15

Mage B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

--

Myrmidon B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

Fighter B(Passive-Aggressive) 24/24

Shaman B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

Raquel 18/18

Gytha 0/21

Blake 7/15

--

Norbert 8/15

Veronika 15/15

John 3/24

--

Ranyin 0/15

Robin 0/12

Gabbie 18/18

--

Nadya 21/21

Mireille 16/18

--

Aneda 10/15

Sophia 12/12

Chelsea 5/15

--

Faatina 0/15

Player Phase 6 Start!

[Mercakete]

Norbert eyed the Rexian horsewoman suspiciously for a good, long moment. "You are injured. And your story makes sense... I'll trust you for now. Come on; I'll see if any of our healers have time to help you. Hurry -- we're sort of separated from the others so it might be rough getting over to them. Going to tell me your name on the way?" Norbert decided as he had Rizen start running back towards the main bulk of the group, expecting the Rexian woman to follow.

[Snike]

Things rolled along quite fast. A Rexian horsewoman joined the fight, and ambushed the other Rexian horsemen, in a pleasant surprise. Elsewhere, one of the troubadors who always seemed to be sleeping revived Veronika, and so their offense rose. The Ursian healer patched her, but then the enemy counterattacked. A metal sphere flew into his face, and then the world was all light and pain. Blake clutched his eyes with his hands as he desperately tried not to scream. Luckily, the pain and light seemed to have went away after a bit, but before he could react, a thief - maybe the sister of the one he just killed? They looked alike- said something in Rexian, before stabbing the sellsword in the side. The blade must have been poisoned, as the wound just sort of sapped his strength almost immediately after contact. Enough was enough. The man re-brandished his longsword, spun the enemy thief with a slash to her side, and turned to survey the battle situation for a moment. More Rexians were down, but so was Robin and the friendly Rexian horsewoman. Things needed to change, and fast.

[spoiler=Roll]http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/3418939/

[3,4,3] = Auto hit! 13 -1 = 12 points of damage! Jalil is defeated!

Team RPG gains 5 points.

Blake 7/15 HP

Jalil 0/15 HP

Edited March 17, 2012 by Snike

[Snowy_One]

As Robin watched in grim horror, the two women she had taken the time to carefully disable were run through by someone she did not know. Almost on pure instinct, she raised her bow at the heartless woman who had done so, an arrow aimed at the back of their neck. Before she could release the arrow, another came from outside her field of focus and impaled her through her right arm. Cutting through flesh and damaging the bone underneath in a manner that could potentially split it down the length of her arm. Her second scream as pain overwhelmed her and she collapsed to the ground, again, was definate. Robin was out of the battle for good. Even if she got back up the arrow in her arm would ensure that she could not draw her bow until it was removed.

[-Cynthia-]

The mysterious woman Bert was talking to was cut down by an axeman. veronika moved in to attack him, slashing him twice.

(1,5,1)= Autohit. 12-2= 10 damage.

(5,2,3)= Hit. 9-2= 7 damage. Fighter A 7/24

The fighter whirled around to strike her, but she lept out of the way. (3,4,1)= Miss. +1 Bert, John, Nika

Nadya decided to attack the shaman who was menacing John. She needed someone to block the hits after all.

(3,2,1)= Hit. 10+ 2(MTA)= 12-3= 9 damage.

He struck back with a globe of darkness.

(6,2,1)= Hit. 11-5-2(MTD)= 4 damage Nadya 17/21

Now rather incensed she had been hit, Nadya fired another beam of light that sent him to the ground. She didn't really care what happened after that.

(1,3,6)= Hit. 9+2= 11-3= 8 damage. Shaman A dead. Nadya, Mireille +5

[Mercakete]

The Rexian did begin following, but didn't answer Norbert's question as she was suddenly assaulted by one of the enemies: a man with an axe. Likewise, a swordsman ran right up to Norbert. "What in Mer--" Rizen reared up in surprise at the sudden appearance of the swordsman, but the swordsman feigned right and slashed up with his sword, managing a clean cut right between Norbert's shoulder and bicep. "MERZ!" he cried angrily, absolutely despising the sudden weakness he felt in that arm, even more so than the slight, stinging pain. The swordsman had put enough distance between himself and Norbert that the pegasus rider had enough time to notice the sorry state of the Rexian horsewoman. Darn. Then, out of nowhere, Veronika attacked the man with the axe who'd done the work.

His eyes went back to the swordsman. Though he would have loved to smash that guy, this enemy was closer. I'll get him later. Norbert internally fumed before charging with his maces at the Rexian with the axe.

(4+5)-6 = 3 = hit!

(6+4)-2 = 8 damage!

+5pts Norbert, Veronika and John

The mace bashed into the axeman's abdomin, forcing the air out of him and knocking him over. To make sure he stayed down, Rizen reared up and slammed her front hooves down, breaking several of his ribs before snorting and trotting off as directed by her rider, over towards the horse with the fallen Rexian horsewoman. "She wanted to get out of Sanctuary," Norbert briefly explained to Veronika, "We should get her back over to the rest of the group." Then I'm hunting down and mangling that slippery swordsman.

[Rothene]

Mireille raised her shield and placed resumed her duty of protecting Nadya.

Mireille Defends Nadya! (For the heck of it...)

[ReformBlade]

Man, that still stung, what the hell was on that blade? Is that even legal? And without wanting to injure herself too much, she decided to stick near sophia.

DEFENDING IS HONORABLE, YO.

[GoD]

"Ooooow.. Why would you do that you prick!!!"- Chelsea cursed at no one in particular as she pulled out the arrow with an excrutiating difficulty. After she was done, but her arm still hurt like hell, she rode Nesha over to John and began to heal him.

John received 8 HP!!

John: 11/24 HP

Chelsea team gets 2 points.

Chelsea 5/15 HP

[Acacia Sgt]

Those arrows were one thing, but then a Shaman attacked him, and there was no way to get around that one.

<Ugh... I got careless.> John thought.

Fortunately he got healed somewhat, by Chelsea.

''Thanks.'' He quickly said, before taking to the air once more. The whole place was a mess, but they still had enemies to worry about. He spotted Raquel had no one covering her and ordered Gil to descend there.

[John defends Raquel.]

Things were starting to look grim. There was barely anyone not unconscious or gravely injured.

Are we going to make it? Sophia thought. It sure looked like they may not. No... I mustn't give up yet. Surely we can do it, we have done it before.

Looking around once more, she saw on of the troubadours was injured. That wasn't a good sign, if even on of their healers got knocked out...

She headed over, and used her staff.

[Chelsea's HP +12. Current HP: 15/15. Aneda/Chelsea/Sophia +2 points. Sophia's current total: 30.]

[-Cynthia-]

The archer saw that the battle seemed to be going pretty poorly. They had too many healers...well he figured if he could take out their best swordsman that would at least be good for his resume.

(1,6,6)= Miss.

The arrow destroyed a nearby rock. <"Shit!"> he swore, mostly to himself. At least he was less dead than the rest.

The horseman took aim at one of the enemy pegasus knights. Did Aisha protect all these foreigners from his arrows? Or just the wyvern rider?

(1,3,2)= Hit. 12-4= 8 damage. Aneda 2/15.

He was relieved to see she wasn't immune at least.

The myrmidon decided to try his hand at attacking an enemy armor knight, making one slash to slow her down and another to cut through her. Then he remembered that swords didn't usually cut through heavy armor very easily.

(2,1,4)= Hit! 6-9= 0 damage. Mireille's speed reduced by one.

(1,2,2)= Critical Hit! *tink*

Blake takes 3 damage due to poison! Blake 4/15

Omar (Erratic) 0/30

Jamal (Erratic) 0/15

Jalil (Erratic) 0/15

--

Wyvern Rider A (Defending) 0/21

Archer A (Subvert) 15/15

Mage A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Cavalier A(Aggressive) 0/15

Horseman A(Aggressive) 15/15

Troubadour A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Myrmidon A(Aggressive) 15/15

Fighter A(Aggressive) 0/24

Shaman A(Aggressive) 0/15

--

Cavalier B(Aggressive) 0/15

Horseman B(Passive-Aggressive) 0/15

Troubadour B(Passive-Aggressive) 0/15

--

Wyvern Rider B(Defending) 21/21

Archer B(Passive-Subvert) 15/15

Mage B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

--

Myrmidon B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

Fighter B(Passive-Aggressive) 24/24

Shaman B(Passive-Aggressive) 15/15

Raquel 18/18

Gytha 0/21

Blake 7/15

--

Norbert 8/15

Veronika 15/15

John 11/24

--

Ranyin 0/15

Robin 0/12

Gabbie 18/18

--

Nadya 17/21

Mireille 16/18

--

Aneda 2/15

Sophia 12/12

Chelsea 15/15

--

Faatina 0/15

Edited March 17, 2012 by -Cynthia-

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, no one came their way, but better safe than sorry.

<Looks like we aren't needed here.> John thought. Not that far away did he spotted Blake, injured. Well, that asked for attention, so he told Gil to fly over.

[John defends Blake.]

An arrow came their way. However, it was intercepted by the pegasus rider. However, she was left badly injured, so Sophia quickly healed her.

[Aneda's HP +12. Current HP: 14/15. Aneda/Chelsea/Sophia +2 points. Sophia's current total: 35.]

[-Cynthia-]

Maybe if I can break their morale they will retreat veronika thought to herself, charging an enemy fighter.

(4,2,6)= Hit! 9-2= 7 damage!

(3,4,3)= Hit! 11-2= 9 damage! Fighter B 8/24

She struck him twice and then (1,5,3) he missed. +1 Bert, John, Nika

Nadya decided to get rid of the remaining shaman. I'm pretty swell at this fightin' thing if I do say so myself she thought to herself, beaming him up.

(2,3,5)= 13-3= 10 damage.

The shaman fired a strong blast at Nadya in return. (4,6,2)= Hit! 15-5-2= 8 damage! Nadya 9/21

She answered back with another blast, sending him sprawling.

(2,3,1) Hit! 13-3= 10 damage. Shaman B dead! +5 points Nadya, Mireille.

Edited March 17, 2012 by -Cynthia-