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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cerulean_Wings" data-source="post: 4059229" data-attributes="member: 55060">Chapter 28RageGilliam could not be certain, but he heard at the very least eight more of these goblins-for that was what they were in actuality-coming from two directions at the group. It certainly did not help that one of the casters was grievously wounded, with the addition of the other one having received his fair share of slashes from the skeletal goblins. “Gon, Darius, shield Kahleen; we will protect Han!” he shouted, or rather, tried to, for his voice died as soon as he realized that the world around him was beginning to fill with darkness, enveloping everything in sight, including his allies. Desperate, the mercenary looked around for the source of this strange occurrence, but failed to find it. And then he saw that which brought forth his deepest fears and doubts right in front of him, making him collapse to the ground, screaming at the top of his lungs like a madman. Barely five feet away from him, Vincent turned his head to glance at his bodyguard, not understanding why he was acting like that.“Gilliam, what’s wrong with you?” he asked, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible in their current predicament. Since the response came in further screams of desperation from the man, Vincent steeled himself for what was about to come: four of the goblins, since the two with Gilliam did not see any reason to bother with him. The squire felt a gentle pat on his back, indicating that Hantel required his attention.“Look after Gilliam, good squire; I shall take care of myself and the others” Hantel informed him before he began to pray for a spell. How the Seer intended to do so, only the Gods actually knew, and Vincent sidestepped in order to stand next to Gilliam. “The roles are reversed, for once” the squire muttered to himself as he assumed an exclusively defensive posture. The four goblins came at him in pairs, forming a cross around him, each equally eager on spilling some elven blood in that very instant. A quartet of crude axes sliced the air in unison, and as one they were repelled by a combination of Vincent’s full plate armor, his shield, and finally, his protective ring, causing some blows to deviate from target in the last second. Such luck would only last for so long for the squire.“Keep them off of me; I can’t possibly fight with Kahleen at the verge of collapse!”  Darius bade Gon just as a goblin axe struck true and bit onto his unprotected leg. He tried retaliating, but the blow was easily dodged, as the soldier’s efforts were put into protecting himself and the shaman instead of killing the goblins. Gon was having a slightly harder time with the current goblinoid than with the ones he had dispatched mere seconds ago. Instead of falling for the soldier’s quick feint, the creature ignored it and blocked the long sword that came after it just fine, sneering at him in defiance. “No can do, Broken Blade; this one is smarter than the others” Gon replied almost casually. “Or should I say, less stupid?” he added as an afterthought. As if the goblin could understand his remark, it suddenly leapt forward, chopping down with the axe at full speed. Sidestepping was all Gon could do to avoid losing a leg in the process, getting a nasty injury on the limb instead. “Well, great” the now-chastised Gon said dryly. Kahleen felt like her life force was being drained away, and in fact it was exactly the case, for her wounds oozed with blood in a constant flow. She was bracing Blood Moon with one hand, using the other one to get a firm hold of Darius in order to stay upright. All that discomfort went away as a sudden surge of soothing relief entered her body from behind.From one instant to the next, Gilliam opened his eyes as he came back to reality. What had seemed to him like an eternity of pain had been no more than five seconds in actuality, and the only change he noticed was Vincent standing in guard next to him surrounded by four goblins. The trauma of seeing his dead wife had weakened his spirit, and nearly killed his body from the shock, but he had resisted it. Gilliam’s emotions now went from fear to annoyance and from annoyance to anger. Anger at the goblins that surrounded his protégé, at whomever it was that had assaulted his mind with that vile magic. You must never surrender your mind to senseless rage, squire his teacher had instructed him.Why? With such a powerful emotion, one can beat any enemy; slay any foe he had replied with determination.But his teacher had shaken his head at this. Not always is such feeling a boon, squire Araby. It may drive you away from your one true goal: defending your cause, or the person you must defend at the time. Such behavior is not proper for a knight, and may as well be the end of your purpose, if not your life. The words, said to him many years ago, were still fresh in his mind, yet Gilliam saw them as more the reason to go against them. In the span of a second, he was back on his feet besides Vincent, both swords in hand. He did not realize it, but he was screaming again. Although this time it was not from fear, but pure unbridled rage. Where a mercenary had once stood, the spot was taken by an unstoppable killing machine.“Your miserable lives end here and now” he promised the goblins in a voice that gave the four of them pause. They were usually fearless beings, inspiring terror in their enemies through their resemblance to undead, but this human seemed different from any other they had encountered. Gilliam began to move his arms in a blur without warning, and within the span of four seconds, the goblins surrounding him and Vincent dropped to the floor, dead, each sporting a gruesome cut on their small bodies. It had taken him exactly one second to perform each killing slash. Just as this happened, the new wave of goblins came at them, hooting and screeching with abandon. There was about nine of the monsters, each carrying a battle axe like the current ones did.   For the mercenary, absorbed in his raging state, they only appeared as more meat to grind into little pieces. Still, he was not invincible by any means, Vincent knew this much, and he decided to stay with Gilliam in order to take away some blows from him. With a roar that rivaled and even surpassed that of the incoming goblins altogether, Gilliam charged, followed by Vincent, who was forced to strain himself in order to keep up. “I’ve never seen you like this, Gil” Vincent commented, but his bodyguard did not seem in the state of mind to process, let alone answer the words.  Yet more goblins emerged from the opposite side of the mist. Eleven of the creatures dashed after the rest of the group, and they were lead by the wailing spirit that had passed by earlier. “Ignore the apparition, it’s not real” Kahleen said, seeing the supposed ghost for what it was in reality, a figment created by magic. By who’s magic, the shaman could only theorize. And true enough, the ghost went through them once more, dealing no harm whatsoever.Seeing that she was as good as new, Darius skewed defense for an all-out attack against the goblin that was assaulting him, eviscerating the small bony thing with a quick sword strike. Gon did as well, managing to successfully catch his opponent off-guard and piercing its neck with his blade. This gave them a few seconds respite to receive the incoming goblin squad, desiring more than ever to slaughter them due to the death of their comrades. Kahleen was well enough to fire arrows at them, but as if inspired by Gilliam’s savage display, the shaman summoned her inner magic to surround her figure, changing to that of a brown bear after a soft green aura surrounded her. Unfortunately for them, the goblins were too filled with raw emotions to consider the threat of the shape shifted woman. The eleven goblins went down to nine as Kahleen mauled the first two to reach her, and those nine turned into seven just as the soldiers combined their blades to end an additional pair of the monsters. Their turn to strike back had come after the initial welcome, and the goblins proved to make up for their lack of toughness with their fierce strength. Kahleen received two telling axe hits, and for all the toughness of her bear hide, the attacks managed to undo part of the healing that Hantel had done. Still, with her new shape, she had obtained the endurance of an actual bear, making it easier for her to withstand injuries. Darius had expected the goblin that came for him, and the small monster could not bypass the soldier’s perfect parry. He thought everything was under control, and was proven wrong with Gon calling for help. The other soldier was placed five feet from him, and he was being flanked by two goblins. “I can’t be expected to deal with this in a regular basis” Gon was cursing as he avoided an incoming axe blade, then turning around swiftly out of instinct in order to block the other one from behind.  Nothing could be done about the remaining two goblins, their faces showing wicked smiles that promised pain to the priest, who merely stood a couple of feet behind the others. Surprisingly enough, Hantel kept a serene composure even in the face of death, and the goblins discovered that the old man had a reason: when they were but at arm’s length from him, they found that for the life of them they could not will themselves to attack Hantel.“Berethor’s sanctuary will keep me away from your axes, foul ones” the Seer informed them, unaware if they could understand him or not. Almost methodically, Hantel walked past the two goblins and started to invoke a prayer of healing onto Kahleen’s furry body. To say the goblins were angered by this was an understatement. Hantel’s prayer turned into a yelp of pain as a huge black and red centipede manifested itself from the mist and clamped its sharp pincers on his neck, threatening to rip it wide open. The priest’s condition went from slightly hurt to seriously injured with the vermin’s attack, and he could very well feel its poison seeping away his ability to coordinate his body. “Lord of Clarity, help me” he begged weakly, just as the monstrous centipede reared back for another assault that would definitely be the end of him.</blockquote>

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