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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 3987245" data-attributes="member: 55060">Continuation here!Seeing that the soldiers were in trouble, Lazarus started to run in their direction, readying a prayer of healing for them. In his hurry, the priest didn't see the gray mist forming ahead, blocking his path. The mist started to take form quickly, and while the primal roar emerging from it was a heads-up for him, Lazarus couldn't dodge the large ape that had manifested out of thin air as it charged him. The primate punched him fiercely in the face, making him loose more than one tooth, stopping him dead on his tracks.“By Berethor, who conjured this?” he asked to no one in particular.Lazarus wisely retreated two steps away from the beast as he summoned the healing energies of his deity. A white glow enveloped the hand he was placing on his face when he finished the prayer, and the priest felt better, but not fully healed.The ape hammered its own chest with its fists repeatedly, roaring in anger, right before jumping onto the cleric and bringing him down to the ground in a violent heap. Darius was struggling to release himself from the net, but the thing had entangled his body quite well, and merely shaking around on the ground didn't offer an escape. His foe, towering over him, sword in hand, smiled and stabbed down at the prone soldier, aiming to end his life quickly. The soldier rolled to the side, net and all, avoiding an early demise.“Priest, a little help here!” he called, desperate.“I'm afraid that will have to wait” the cleric replied in a strained tone, struggling as he was to keep the ape's fists from crushing his neck.Dodging a sword strike yet again, out of pure luck, Darius seized the moment to turn in Janir's direction. He saw the elven soldier with two blades running him through, one by his chest, the other one by his back, from behind. Janir glanced at the fallen Darius, his mouth open in pain, before being kicked down by one of his killers.“Damn it, NO!” Darius screamed in rage. First Mathias, now Janir. And he was next on the waiting line for the ship sailing to the world of the dead.Not far away, Vincent sighed. “We lost another one” he lamented.“No time to mourn their deaths, Vince” Gilliam reminded him, dodging right below a swinging morning star, which missed him by an inch.“Don't worry, I'll make sure someone mourns yours” Reldo offered coldly, pivoting quick like lightning and switching targets, using the momentum to swing at Vincent's leg horizontally. The squire took the hit, and his plate legging looked as effective as paper, judging by the way it was left after the impact.Wincing in pain, Vincent moved in after the hit and completely lowered his defenses as he did, with a look of grim determination across his face. Reldo didn't hesitate, swinging his other weapon diagonally, colliding with the squire's groin with a disgusting cracking sound, as if the morning star had bent the armor and cracked a rib at the same time.But Vincent wasn't slowing down after getting hurt twice. In fact, he accelerated his movement, gritting his teeth and bashing Reldo's face with his shield. The dwarf had no chance to avoid this, with Vincent  being right next to him, and his head swayed to the side wildly, more stunned than hurt.Which was what the elf had been aiming for. He moved his weapon arm backwards, putting all his rage and might behind the attack, striking the dwarf like lightning, piercing his protective hides by the ribs, driving the spear head more than one inch into his chest.Reldo groaned in pain, just when Gilliam's first sword came down on his shoulder, slashing it deeply, and taking away a big chunk of the hide that protected the dwarf's arm. His second blade did the same on his other shoulder, and the hide there departed Reldo's body as well.   “Well done, Vincent” Gilliam congratulated, finally being able to find an opening in the dwarf's defenses. Vincent smiled back, proud of his efforts.Their celebration was short lived, however. It took no more than a second for Reldo to recuperate, and the dwarf had a look of utter hatred that sent shivers down the spines of the two warriors. Letting out a yell of unrestrained fury, Reldo banged Gilliam's chest with one morning star, and the sound of bone being crushed could be heard by anyone nearby. The mercenary spat blood, just as Reldo's other weapon did as the first one, smashing the man solidly on the same spot. The sound that came from this impact was even worse, and Gilliam honestly thought that the number of bones he had broken consisted of two digits.“Gilliam!” the mercenary thought he heard through his haze. It was hard to tell which of the four Vincent's had said it, and he was sure that one of the five Reldo's would finish him with the next blow. The whole room was spinning rapidly, he no longer had his swords on his hands, and he wished that he could face his end with more dignity.An orange glow was surrounding him as well, just when he thought the delusions would come to an end. However, the glow felt soothing and relaxing, forcing his vision to stop swimming around and focusing it back to reality. His bones began to mend at an alarming rate, and suddenly his breathing didn't come in ragged intakes.“Don't worry, child, I'm here” a familiar feminine voice reassured him from behind. Her next words came in the form of a gasp, the source of her pain being three identical wounds across her chest.“Wizard” Vincent uttered.Helios, the wizard, had been well prepared. Ignus had provided him with the scroll to summon the ape, which was about to kill the priest at the time, along with the very useful wand he had been using to hurt his foes from a distance. The great mage had even taken the trouble of giving him a concealment spell to make him invisible! It was all too perfect.He saw the woman with the deadly bow heal the man that was about to die, somehow, and thought it best to put her down with another use of his wand, which sent three unerring missiles of invisible force at her, but unfortunately didn't kill her. It would take more than one shot, he concluded, and so he raised the slender wand once more, to finish the job.“Now now, let's end this little game of ours, shall we?” came a suave voice from behind. The wizard had no time to ask what game the man was referring to, for he had a throwing knife stuck in his throat, preventing him from speaking and breathing.Gon came out from the darkest area of the warehouse, his sword ready in one hand, smiling as he walked towards the choking wizard.“That was quick, I must say” he commented cheerfully as he reached the robed man, who didn't understand how he had been seen with his invisibility. “Usually the game lasts longer! But I suppose I must content myself with this”. The wizard wanted to scream, but the knife prevented him from doing anything more than grunting and wheezing. Gon's longsword prevented him from staying alive any longer.“The game is over for you” the merry man informed the corpse.“He got Helios!” one of the two men who had killed Janir exclaimed, pointing at Gon.“He's with them” the other confirmed, starting to run after Gon.“And so the game goes on” Gon whispered as he took the knife he had stolen from Gilliam and readied himself with knife and sword for the two men.“The wizard's dead?” asked the man who had been trying to kill Darius, unsuccessfully. He had cut the soldier on the arm twice, but he knew that he wasn't going to die from that. Looking over he saw the wizard's body materialize in death, now that the spell had left him.“And so are you”.The assassin reverted his gaze down to his prey, and understood why Darius had said those words: the soldier's sword was back in his grasp, even if his body was still trapped in the net, and he had taken a hold of his left leg with one hand.Before the man could do anything other than scream in surprise, Darius pulled with all his might and yanked the killer off his feet, bringing him down to the ground as he stabbed with his longsword, effectively impaling him by the stomach.Darius quickly retracted the blade and began to cut the annoying net once and for all. His attention got diverted by a shout from behind.“Retreat!!!”.It was Gilliam's voice, and he was looking around to see how many were left alive. Darius stood up, tossing the broken net away as he did.Reldo would've none of it, wounded or not. Reldo the Mighty pulled each arm to the side backwards, using all his strength for one powerful double-strike. The two morning stars were to collide on the sides of Gilliam's torso in unison, but got Vincent's full plate instead, since the squire had moved to act as a shield for his friend, pushing the mercenary away.The collision was brutal, the sound of metal against metal clanging loudly along with the squire's rib cage making a disgusting cracking sound. Vincent almost collapsed after the impact, and had to lean on Gilliam to remain standing and regain his balance.“Vince, you fool, I'm the bodyguard, remember?” Gilliam said to Vincent as he put the elf's arm around his shoulder for support and begun running away from Reldo.Vincent only groaned in response as he accompanied Gilliam groggily.Kahleen was following them, chanting strange words rapidly.“What are you up to?” Gilliam inquired hastily, glancing at the shaman.Without offering an explanation, the woman manifested an amber colored energy on her two hands, and she aimed it at the ape, which was currently beating the priest to a bloody pulp. The energy obtained the shape of chains, and they enveloped the gorilla, forcing it to stay in the spot, unable to move.Lazarus had been dead a couple of seconds ago, and thus the ape's restraint made no difference for him.“Where do you think you're going, boyos?!” Reldo bellowed from behind. “This isn't over!”.Gilliam suddenly recalled that they still had the furious dwarf behind them, and he offered Vincent to Kahleen. “Hold him for one moment” he bade her.While the shaman became Vincent's support momentarily, Gilliam spun around, drawing and throwing two knives in one movement. The weapons went for Reldo's feet, which were currently moving towards the group, and each struck its mark, making the dwarf trip and fall face down.“Done” the mercenary informed, giving his support to the wounded squire once again. He could spy Darius running after them from the corner of his eye, fifteen feet to the side. Two men were chasing him, and Reldo was beginning to stand up once again.“Not yet” Kahleen corrected, chanting in a strange tongue once again.The shaman brought her arms upwards when she was done, and this time an ice-blue aura came forth, rapidly augmenting in size. Within moments, the air around was colder, and a gray cloud had formed from the energy right in between them and their pursuers. An ice storm began to fall, then, obscuring the visibility and hampering the movement of Reldo and his remaining followers.  Leaving a cursing dwarf behind in the storm, Gilliam, Vincent, Kahleen and Darius made it to the entrance of the warehouse and promptly left its premises. They didn't look back as they ran for their lives, each one of them hurt and tired.</blockquote>

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