(Open) Crash Course

[Tobin]

"Ahahahah! It's no worries, never thought ya had it in ya ta be honest though ya proved me wrong, nevar thought I see ya get angreh like tha'."

The chuckling continued as he was healed, though the first heal only recovered around 20% of his total health, the Dwarf was just that buff that healing took a lot of effort at this level, though as he glanced through the health bars he noticed the sorcerers health and raised a eyebrow as he felt a sharp stab of guilt. After all, compared to the much squishier fellow, he had fared lightly.

"Look, dun't worry 'bout me fa now, it might be a tad uncomfortable but I'll be alright, heal Hade first. If it were not for that magic right there ta give me the opening, we all might have been goners, thank ya."

The Dwarf chuckled as he gave the thumbs up and with a sigh pushed himself back to his feet, this alley in particular was quiet though there was still sounds of distant chaos and the occasional echo of fleeing persons. The dwarf's head still throbbed from the echo's of combat as it all felt serial to him. One minute he had been signing on, the next he was in a fantasy world fighting all manners of sentient creatures and other adventurers. Needless to say the entire experience seemed over his head, was this the real life or just a fantasy? He felt caught in a landslide with no escape from reaility, so with a sigh, he opened his eyes and looked up to the sky, this reality still seemed like a dream to him but that really didn't matter to him, there was no choice but to proceed and continue to meet the challanges this strange world offered. What mattered somewhat more to him however was that Kaytina wasn't with this party, though the voice piped in soon enough.


"Aye, the three of us booked it together, we are a bit worse fa wear, but we be doin' alright. Where 'bout's are you?" Naturally there was a pause to hear the response, before the Dwarf gave a nod "Ahh right, I be on my way now, gotta say, you did pretty, at 70% ya were virtually untouc-" The Dwarf turned a paler shade of grey as the 70% icon on his parties icon was dropped to 35%. His expression frozen

-Even if it was 5 minutes from here, we wouldn’t make it, but still, we can’t just leave her-

Wordlessly the stocky fellow broke off into a sprint, leading a mad dash though the alleys and streets as his stubby legs worked themselves into a blur as he plotted a route to the river themes. Not seeing a quicker way across, the stunted fellow preformed a dive and swam across, his arms allowed him to cross quicker then his bulk suggested. With a burst of water worthy of bay watch, the dwarf charged out of the water as the fluid dripped off of him as he happened upon the scene, about 3 minutes too late.

"Rite ya bastard hav at ya... Oh, ya got et under control, though my, tat is a fresh wound."

The dwarf laughed, this world was already proving too much, and he had yet to finish wipping his feet on the doormat!


(Ooc the iPad isn't too good for diddly stuff, so I leave that till I get home.)

WC: 558

[Kouri]

Kouri paused when Tobin asked him to heal Hadrian instead, but nodded at the request, switching his attention to the magic user. While slowly healing Hadrian, Kouri nodded towards Tobin, “Sure thing, just glad to know I wasn’t completely useless in that battle!” He laughed and continued healing the man, however his mana was getting pretty low now. Tobin was at around 75% health, while Hadrian was slowly approaching 50%. “We really should’ve had a plan, I’m afraid this is the best I can do, I need some mana to heal Kay, and I only have a few mana potions with me right now."

Eyeing his health, Kouri saw that his party mambers had done a reasonable job protecting him, given the circumstances. His health was only down to about 60%, because luckily he could equip plate armor. It was now that Tobin decided to rush off yet again, this time with good reason. With a sigh, Kouri followed after him, waving for Hadrian to come along as well. Kouri placed his hands at the ready, prepared to heal Kay as soon as they got there and hoping Tobin and Marc had enough health now to help her fight.

They did not, however, find Kay battling a horde of rogues; instead she was hugging someone on the ground. Kouri decided against making a comment, choosing instead to walk over silently and heal Kay with the remainder of his mana, managing to bring her health up to 33%, it was now that Kouri rubbed his neck awkwardly. “Er…I hate to interrupt, but we still need to get out of the city. I only have enough potions to give me mana to heal you three and then fill my bar up to prepare for whatever is out there, but…”

Kouri sighed and looked away, “You’ll probably have to introduce us, if she’s coming with then I’ll heal her as much as I can but everyone else will have to agree to only having partial health. That is, unless some of you have some potions?” Kouri frowned uncomfortably, “I really don’t want to be rude or abrupt, but we need to get out of here right now so we aren’t trapped in anymore mobs…you’ll have to figure this out quickly. By the looks of it, everyone who escaped the guards is coming this way.” Kouri enlarged his map so everyone else could see that this was true.

Kouri stepped back, this really felt awful, but they couldn’t risk getting trapped again, “Hadrian, Tobin, we need to go. Kay, you’re welcome to come, but it’s up to these two whether or not she can come. I’m perfectly fine with the addition, but it’s not my place to make that sort of decision for everyone.” Glancing back at the map, Kouri saw that the players were getting closer and closer by the minute, most likely still fighting with each other as they migrated. This was an awful time and place and scenario for decision making, and Kouri felt that whoever this person was, she was important to Kay.

It wasn’t fair to make everyone choose, but it really was a matter of life and death right now. Kouri glanced anxiously towards his other party members, awaiting decision from them and watching the stranger carefully. He really did want to help her now, but it was too late, he was out of mana and wasn’t sure if the others would want him to use a potion just for a newcomer who may or may not be dangerous. Just in case, Kouri reached into his bag, ready to pull one out.

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}
I totally thought Kouri might just heal her without asking everyone. XD Poor Kay.

[Kaytina]

Kay rolled off of Jocelyn when Tobin appeared about five minutes after she had told the group where she was. He didn't just appear, though, he jumped into the river, swam for a while, let the current turn him around, then rushed back onto the shore battle-ready. Kaytina had no idea what was going through his mind at the moment... would probably be best not to bring it up. Kay stood up and held out a hand, her remaining right hand, to help Jocelyn off the ground. Both were disoriented from the fight they just had that brought them down to 5% health each.

Kay grabbed her dismembered arm and held it to her shoulder before Kouri started to heal her. She felt the flesh adhere to itself and the bone crack and snap back into place. She also felt the wound on her back close a bit. Kay just let Kouri talk, still shocked to have found Jocelyn in this mess and to have learned that Jocelyn was her first kill in this game... She wiped the tears out of her eyes and brushed the dirt off her clothes.

"Stop with the ultimatums, cleric." Jocelyn said, tossing a bottle with blue liquid in it at Kouri. "Heal Kayla fully with that, I've got myself covered." She pulled out a different shaped bottle with a red liquid in it, pulled the top off it, and drank it. The disfigurement of her face from the beating was subsiding and her hp rose sharply to 80%. "Wanted to save those for later, but this was my own fault. If I'd known I would be up against you, I would have turned tail and ran." She said, turning to Kay and petting her on the head. The assassin was tall enough that it didn't really look awkward, but Kay was still uncomfortable.

Kay grabbed Jocelyn's hand off her head and tossed it. "Okay, short introduction then. This is Joc-"

"Yyswen. Just call me Yyswen. Human assassin and lover of PvP. I convinced this firecracker to join in on the fun, but the situation has changed. Obviously. Anyway, I've already been flagged by the guards for execution. It's only a matter of time before they find me. So me going with you is a bad idea unless you're fond of a level 100 axe blasting through your skull. Your only options are to ride the riots out inside the city, or find a way past the campers at the main gates of the city's protected zone." She completely cut Kay off. This is the only kind of person who could truly be friends with someone like Kay, and that's someone who is far more forceful than Kay, with a dominating personality. Jocelyn had those traits. "In either case, I can't come with you. Not when there's more blood to be spilled in the city. Kouri, Tobin, Marcellus, I'll remember your names and won't PVP you for now as long as you're on good terms with Kayla."

Kay looked over and saw Jocelyn fiddling her fingers in the air, then a pop up appeared in front of Kay. Friend Request from Yyswen. Kay hit accept and another box showed up, her friends list with only Yyswen on it.

"We'll talk later." Yyswen ripped her sword out of it's scabbard and started walking into the park. "I'll try to pull them back toward the middle of the city, this is a warzone! And I love it! Now all we need are the bombers to complete the picture!" She burst out laughing, then rocketed out in a sprint toward where the abbey was.

Kay didn't know what to think any more. This world had been alien to her so far. The only thing that was really real was her own mind and her skills, her real skills with a knife. She was glad she was able to convince her dad to pay for those lessons when she was younger. But another thing that was real was Jocelyn. Jocelyn was here, although she didn't look anything like what she did back in Manchester. Her voice was the same. One of her only friends was here, stuck in this mess along side her. Well, there were these three others too.

"So, uhh, that was Jocelyn..." Kay walked over to where her knives had landed on the ground during the fight and casually picked them up. "What are we supposed to do now? For all intents and purposes, we're in the heart of London and everyone's lost their neeping minds. What is the most direct route out of the city from here that no one will think to be checking?" She wasn't going to wait in the city for things to die down, who knows when that will happen.

Hadrian

SPOILER: Click to show

{(OOC)}The fastest way would definitely be the river. But I didn't want to bring it up as Kaytina cause that would be a bit out of character. Anyway, just throwing it out there in care anyone else wants a bright idea.

[Hadrian]

Luckily, since they had managed to group up earlier the position of each party member was made apparent apart from the mass of other adventurers. He didn’t really have much in the way of coinage so unfortunately couldn’t buy useful items like mana potions. In a rather futile attempt he tried to barter with the store clerk but instead received a rather odd tongue lashing about the chaos adventurers had caused in the streets from the person of the land who tended the store. “That’s odd they normally didn’t respond that way…” he thought as he made his way out of the store and over to Kouri and Tobin.

The monk and cleric were not all too far from the shop he had escaped into and with good fortune the path had been relatively clear. He arrived right when Tobin congratulated Kouri for getting angry in the fight. It seemed they each had to find their fighting style and Kouri needed to do just that. The cleric did try to negotiate during the middle of a royal rumble. Which would have been funny if they weren’t figuratively fighting for their lives.

When the heals began to get tossed Alex was grateful the dwarf had made the suggestion to let Kouri spread the wealth. Though no matter his condition the primary concern for health was the group’s tank and healer. In this case Tobin had been healed to a good percentage once Kouri switched to him. Even though his max health wasn’t all that high in the first place, he could see the cleric’s mana drain. “This crew seems to work well together Tobin. Seems to be as simple as that” he replied at the Dwarf’s compliment thrown in his direction.

Alex patted Kouri on the shoulder as his health was now at least back to 50%. “Don’t sweat it Kouri. Save what you have left. Gotta play things as smart as we can from here on.” It was rather impressive that Kouri had managed to fight so well and save mana to the point that he had enough left to even heal himself and Tobin as much as what was restored. The cleric seemed to be intuitive and sensible, traits defiantly needed by a party healer. So Alex simply listened to Tobin respond to Kay while he leaned against a wall and regained some mana. It had made it back to a whopping 4% now. Still not enough for him to make any sort of decent impact in another fight.

When Kay’s health began to drop what choice did they had to rush over and help her? Especially the way Tobin booked it away from him and Kouri. With a deep sigh he followed the hand motion of Kouri and ran just behind the cleric. It was rather impressive how fast Tobin could run with those short little legs, Alex could have gotten there fast but the lack of mana left no choice but to hoof it over the use of his spells. Once there he stood among the three in a state of shared confusion. Based on the way the two females acted it seemed that they knew each other. Though Alex couldn’t really agree with what Yyswen had wanted to do or her focus on pvp. The world they were in now wasn’t just a game but their souls for lack of a better world now inhabited virtual bodies. Intentionally killing others just seemed stupid. Even then when Elder Tale was just a game guilds that hunted PKers popped up from time to time. It seemed stupid to get on peoples black lists right at the start of the game.

Furthermore her attitude could use a tune up, but it was not his place to start that conversation. Alex would have voted to abandon her had she not made the choice to leave. Despite his own tendencies towards pvp in the game before he was rather disappointed by Yyswen bloodlust. Once she left he turned his focus back to Kay as she changed the subject. “No need to worry about people who thrive in chaos Kouri” he commented just as Kay mentioned a fast way out of the city. “Best you don’t waste potions if you don’t have to. Anyway Kay’s got a point. I’m thinking we follow the river west… or if they programmed a tube entrance then we could take the underground.” What was clear is that a basic knowledge of London in the real world could be virtually worthless in a game that made London a wasteland. He had no real clue if there had been entrances to the underground or if following the river west was even a clear path. For all he knew several of the bridges could have been programmed to be collapsed.

WC: 801
Tag Tobin

[Tobin]

The dwarf's immediate response to the situation was one of a weary nature. By the time most of the party had arrived the squat fellow and slouched down to rest against the stone wall directed toward the river themes, the fellow clearly winded from swimming across one of the larger rivers in England in one go, a limp wave being the closest thing he could muster to a greeting. Perhaps most likely he wouldn't have been much use as a rescuer, though his mana and hp stated otherwise.

-Well, I'm not doin' tha' again in a hurry... mah hearts poundin' like a steamtrain.-

Needless to say, as the healing and the conversation shifted to escape the dwarf didn't contribute initially, there was little need to as between the cleric and the Assassin much was said already, the former about the responsibilities of shared healing and the latter of brisk introductions. Though he had found Yasmers perspective on this situation refreshing, Tobin found the causal disregard to life somewhat terrifying. It wasn’t long ago that the vast majority of people that had shifted over to this world had been just virgins to the prospect of taking life, yet now it was kill or be killed. A dark frown drew upon his features as that sunk in, how could any of these savage bastards consider murder normal?

-You can’t claim you haven’t spilt blood Gav.-

A snort erupted from the stout’s figures nose as he tampered the steel of his impulsive temper with the cool water of reason. There was too much to be done to be losing his rag now, it was hardly a innovation that people always had a darker side to their nature, that selfish drive that made them human, successful, driven. Just his selfish drive was turned inwards, to not be dying any time soon. Thus as she turned to leave, the dwarf would allow his voice to carry after her loudly.

“Happy huntin’ lassie, keep goin’ with how ya gonna live your life. Probably face down, ass up, because tats the way ya just got- oh, gone.”

Horse laughter erupted from his lungs, likely the individual could care less about what Tobin had to say, the fellow rolled up onto his feet as with a sigh he shifted up to the rest of the party, it seemed that things were at a crossroads once more for this small party as discussions turned to directions. The dwarf gave a glance around the party; it seemed to be a shared mood that this party only really had one another to rely on.

“Knowin’ ta underground, ther’s probably a ton of giant rats down thure, so ta way I see it, tis a rock ‘n’ a ‘ard place, so ehh, lets say we go west until we find somethin’ stoppin’ us, then we try ‘n’ that. That sound fair? Long as we just go casual, we might just be abl’ ta slip right through.”

Sure, it sounded a tad optimalistic of the stocky fellow, but the way he saw it neither was that great an option. The dwarf fellow chuckled as he knelt down and began to stroll alongside the river west, as Hadian had suggested. Sure, perhaps it was a tad bold of him to start walking, though already Tobin had began to develop the traits that would define persona for later; a figure of boldness that acted quicker then most people, himself included, could think. Somewhat unfortunate really.

“So wha’ ya do for a living then fellows ‘n’ lassie? Before we started celebratin’ ta end of all times.”

The fellow gave a slight chuckle as the small talk began, his gaze lazily scanned the horizon, the streets seemed quiet for the moment a currently the battle was raging in the city centre so it seemed a good time for small talk though he had very little intention to talk about himself unless pushed, already the world seemed to have moved on.

---

“Ahhh bollocks, tis wasn’t in the plan.”

The Dwarf murmured slight discontent as a structure became apparent in the distance, in the distance a gigantic steel and brick enclosure structure became an obvious obstacle Though the state of disrepair was immediately apparent, the wall remained a imposing structure that rose up a good 16 foot, to tower above the slums. To further complicate things, there was a great tower that stood at the neck of the river with great archways that stood as the most imposing landmark in this downtrodden down time. It had taken just under 30 minutes to get here at a swiftish pace, though the resistance they had encountered was fairly minor compared to before. By this point, most of those who didn’t desire the violence had disappeared or had hidden behind firm walls.

“Well, ta choice is simple, we either go casual ‘n’ walk or we try and go into the sewers ‘n’ around. I imagine if they ar’ declarin’ marial law, tat they would detain anyone.”

WC: 835

(OOC: Sorry if this wasn’t the best I could do. I’m flagging today. Might edit more in later.)

[Kouri]

The first thing the stranger did was snap at him, telling him to heal Kay instead. Kouri thought it best not to argue, so he remained silent, pulling a vial filled with blue liquid from his bag and drinking the contents, filling up his mana. As the girl ranted on standoffishly, Kouri finished healing his party members, although it took a bit of the second mana potion to finish up Kay’s, as she had come pretty close to death in her encounter with this…Yswen. Obviously they knew each other outside of the game, and Kay seemed not to mind the girl’s rather forceful behavior.

Then, just like than, the girl was gone, off to delay the mob in an effort to help Kay more than the rest of the group. Hadrian’s support made Kouri nod and smile, “Right. She’ll be okay on her own, I’m sure.” The sorcerer had been much friendlier than Kouri originally thought he would be from the way he had been when they first met. It really was true that first impressions were the worst, Kouri had obviously given off a weak vibe from the comments Tobin had made, he was glad they weren’t hindered by a lack of experience on his part.

The party began to move along the river as Marc had suggested, led by Tobin. Kouri yawned and stretched, the scene was almost peaceful, save for the fact that they were trying to escape the city until the riots calmed down and would probably be attacked by monsters because of this. At Tobin’s question, Kouri smiled nostalgically, it felt like such a long time ago already that he had been a part of a normal life. Time just seemed to have moved so slowly and quickly at the same time, and it was confusing to think about.

“I used to be a barista, I got to work with people and watch peoples’ lives unfold in front of me every day. It was a nice job, especially on rainy days, there was a fireplace and plenty of hot stuff to drink. Those were the best days, it was just busy enough that sometimes two strangers would talk to each other out of boredom and chance and then sometimes they’d come back again, only this time together. Sad to think that we might not get to have that now…” Kouri frowned here, thinking over the topic.

“Nah, we’re still ourselves, we just look differently. It’s what’s inside that counts, right? I’m sure we’ll adjust soon.” He ended this with a bright smile, placing his hands behind his back and walking in steady, even steps, clanking over at the river. It really was a beautifully simulated game, it was almost prettier than real life. Brighter, more vibrant, more perfect. Kouri hoped it would at least rain or something, He loved the rain, and if the game was too unrealistic by always having perfect weather then it would be a constant reminder of the fake life surrounding them.

---

When they got to the tower and Tobin asked for suggestions, Kouri was glad. The dwarf didn’t decide to jump blindly into combat. “We should probably play it safe and go through the sewers. The tower is likely to have higher level NPCs and we’re really not prepared for that kind of fight yet. We’d be able to get away with our lives, barely, if we were lucky, but sewer rats are low level enemies and it’s only a small detour. We also probably won’t run into any PKers down there.”

“It’ll be a chance to level up before we get out of the city. Tobin and Kay could play front, Hadrian could play center, and I’ll fight from the rear. That way our magic user is protected from the back and the front and has easy access to all of us, as well as the ability to fight off the enemies that come in from the sides. Just an idea, what do you guys think, about both the tower and the sewer?” Kouri asked, looking up at the tower thoughtfully. They could have a chance, if they played it safe and didn’t fight for too long, but was it worth the risk?

[Kaytina]

Kaytina Wolf Hair Monk Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 100%

STATUS: None

---

At this point, all Kay could really do is follow the group. She didn't have anything useful to add aside from her knife into an attacker's throat if the chance came. She brought up the rear while Tobin lead. This sort of diamond formation seemed to be the best option while trying to escape a warzone without being caught off guard. Tobin then asked about life before this thing happened. So much had happened so quickly that it was like thinking back a few years. She was in her bedroom playing a computer game she wasn't good at and now she was here after waking up on a slab of marble in a decrepit Westminster Abbey. Here, death had little consequence other than some lost experience points. It's a whole new world to her. "I'm a secondary school student, or I was." She didn't really have anything going for her back home anyway. Below average grades, no career ambitions, a few jobs that she was fired at shortly after hire because she couldn't cooperate well with others. Maybe being stuck here in this world was the best thing for her. At least here she could use the knife fighting training she got. She was a knife addict and here she could actually use them. She misses her collection back at home, though...

---

After a brisk walk up the river, they got to what looked like a wall and tower guarding a road from the city, which led to another part of the city that seemed far more downtrodden. She wasn't as sure of the surroundings as she would like to be, but it looked like the wall and towers were just separating one part of the city from another part from what she saw out the open gate. If the area they were in, which the location info said was supposed to be no PVP, was a safe zone, then did the safe zone only encompass the centre of the city and not the outlying buildings? If this was the case, then the trip outside of the entire city might take longer than they had expected. The buildings would also make for good hiding places for other players to ambush them.

But now the choice was to go through the gate and chance the free-for-all part of the city or wade through the sewers... "Do we really need to go through the sewers?" Her problem with the sewers wasn't the shit water or the rats or the whatever else was down there. "I'd really really really rather not go through the sewers." The thought already was starting to make her shake. The enclosed space of the sewer system, collapsed passages, flooded sections, there would be way too little room to move around, no space to turn and run, and the darkness. She didn't like closed spaces, she would not step into the sewers even if they dragged her down there. "I'd reeeeeeeeeally rather not go down into the sewers. I'm claustrophobic..."

---

Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Hadrian

NOTES: N/A

[Hadrian]

Their ever fearless dwarf certainly had a point. Should the group actually find an entrance to the tube system it was probably filled with enemies? So it was no surprise to see Tobin begin to walk away westward, better than any clock they could hope for. The dwarf would no doubt let the group know when it was time to leave. Though Alex wasn’t sure if it was a welcomed or uncomfortable choice of conversation when Tobin asked about their lives pre being stuck in a game. On his old server Alex hadn’t been the type to open up about what the ins and outs of his personal life were. Even now what good did it do him to blab on about it.

Kouri’s mention of a job which brought the cleric happiness seemed almost nostalgic. The guy really was fit with the right personality to be a cleric. Of course Alex’s worry did seem to manifest in the doubt Kouri showed, even if it was only momentary. “If that makes you happy could probably do something like that here to. Open up a shop; bring them something good to drink. Maybe even get a quest from the people of the land to do something similar.” Mental balance was just as important for them to maintain as made abundantly clear by the violent riot of adventurers in the city.

Kay was shorter in her addition to the conversation. She seemed to be an easier puzzle to solve than originally believed. During the fight Kay was pronounced which took an obvious turn to introversion once the situation became less tense. A marked difference out of combat in personality from Kouri or Tobin. Certainly more akin to his personal preferences on the matter though not what he put to practice. “I’d say you still are Kay. We are still the same as we were save for the world. This is just like Plato’s allegory of the cave. We have simply been awakened to a new reality.”

When it came time for him to share there was not much to tell. “Was supposed to take a test tomorrow” he joked with the party. “Spent my days in class at university and nights in Elder Tale.” The true waste was all those years spent in Elder Tale to be stuck in the game as a level one character. It’s almost as if all those sessions in front of a screen where a waste of his time. “What about you Tobin, I’d imagine you were the life of the party back in the real world.”

The downed structure almost came as a surprise. Even though they were in an version of London that was only found in video games or movies so far for the past thirty minutes the flow had gone rather well. While he couldn’t really argue the logic of Tobin and Kouri voting for the sewer if Kay was not going to be useful, perhaps paralyzed by claustrophobia, then their only course of action was clear. “Guess that settles it” he walked past the three of them and began to head to the downed structure. “I’d rather have our complete group above ground than go below and loose a member.” Once he got a good ten feet in front of the group he stopped and looked back. “Doesn’t work when I start walking first. Tobin would you do the honors?” he joked in the hopes a light mood could be kept between the four of them.

WC: 548
Tag: Tobin

[Valentine]

► 706 WORDS ◄ ►@tobin◄ ► lost and afraid◄ ► Did I really trip?◄

»Valentine awoke only find her own vision blurry, her mind equally as groggy with confusion. The ground beneath her was soft and tickled at the skin as each breeze rolled by. It took her a few moments to clear herself from the daze, only to find that she was outside. But something was wrong. There was no way she was lying outside, on the grass, int he dirt without someone telling her how filthy it was. There was near to no chance she would get away with sleeping outside at all. She sprung herself upwards, which was surprisingly easy for her, seeing as the dress she was wearing prior was… no longer on her. She looked down at her new attire, it appeared to be the outfit she had just purchased in “Elder Tale”, the MMO she had just started this week. It looked like that of a Japanese school girl, but one of high class. It was hard for her to properly find it in the game. It was really a basic outfit but it was easily one of her favourites within th game. Puzzled further she looked around, but all around her was empty. Void of anything or anyone. Her eyes peaked with interest at the new adventure that seemed to await her, but fear took its place in the back of her mind. She wasn’t sure what was happening. It was surely just a dream, right? This wasn’t too far off of what she had dreamt of before on multiple occasions. She paced herself carefully with each step, each one as silent as the last, trying to make the least amount of noise she could. For all she knew she could have gotten kidnapped or put into some sort of sick game. She had heard of novels like that, ones her father never let her read, of course. She shuffled carefully through the grass before she found herself in front of… a city. A city she almost recognised. She froze for a few moments before heading under the gate entrance, as the mummer, shouts and panic of people began to fill her ears. She only managed to mutter “Huh..?” before she was shoved aside by a large group of men, knocking her flat on the ground. She made no noise, however. It wasn’t ‘proper’ to show any weakness. But with her own thud on the ground she was accompanied by the sound of metal, as she quickly found the rapier that was sheathed on her side. Another crowd of angry, rowdy players decided to conveniently come bringing their mess in her direction, so she panicked, rose to her feet and boosted herself straight out of the city, back through the gates and into the open fields. Except for, it wasn’t like it was only minutes before. People and monsters littered the grasslands now, and she remained confused. Where was she? She was so lost and confused, she needed somebody to tell her what was happening. Everybody around her looked intimidating, stronger than her. She saw herself as nothing and invisible, as she has all her life. She remained stuck between the city and grasslands, curled up in a ball at the cities entrance, needing to calm herself down before making any harsh decisions. The monsters in the fields she swore she recognised, but her muddled mind was in no place to think or make conclusions, which sent her straight back into the city, looking for answers, now determined to find some. She snuck past any large crowds that attempted to trample over her, finding a group of people that appeared to be.. sane, for what it was worth to her. She hesitated to approach them so easily, so rather she decided to follow them. With each carefully placed quiet step, she followed the group who appeared to all be dressed differently and looked unique in all their own fashion, wondering if they knew any more than she did. A loud shriek would escape her lips, exposing her little stealthy mission before sending her to the ground, face first, tripping on what appeared to be absolutely nothing. “Classic me,” she muttered under her breath, embarrassed and tired of herself at this point.

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Tobin]

(OOC: I like how the Dwarf is turning into a walking plot device, quite literally. XD A short post, but I wanted to pass on the touch a bit. Fourth wall violations ahooyyy! We haven't quite left the city yet, but hopefully we will get out in this next round of posting, and meet up with Val outside the city then. Hehe)

WC: 600

The Dwarf nodded as he strolled, he hadn't planned on revealing much about himself and he wasn't. After all, he still had a reputation to uphold outside the threads of being sort of mysterious. Maybe. Though a little snippet couldn't really hurt. Though he wasn't the party animal that he was made out to be, rather his bravado filled self was a response to this crazy situation.

"Ahahah, ya could say tha'. I had finished my uni studies 'bout a year ago, I had been working my way up a pham corporation, could have been quite well paying but tis gonna be tad awkward ta explain why I'mma not comin' out tomorrow. Gahaha"

The Dwarf laughed, after all imagining this fellow in a white lab coat would tickle most who saw him, though there was a slight uneasy tone about that laugh as thought occurred to him.

"I'mma gonna be fired when I get back. Bollocks."

---

The squat individual gave a slight snort as he shrugged as little effort was made to conceal his irritation at the situation, though it had been the most feminine he had seen the straightforward lass been so far.

“Alright lassie, no tunnel then, didn’t want to get muck in my beard anyway.”

The situation had brought back memories of his last visit with his college to London where one particular classmate had a crippling fear of escilators, thus it took forever to get anywhere using other public transport to the extent Gavin only had around five hours of sleep on the entire two day trip. The situation was comparable to that the sewers was probably an easier route, but was unbearable to one. Though as he stroked his newly obtained facial hair Dwarf he gave a slight chuckle at Hadian as he attempted to imitate the dwarf

"Wha' am I? Walkin' plot device 'n' a roleplayin' game am I? If ya had a idea ta follow up on then ta walkin' would hav' meanin'." The fellow gave a hearty laugh as he began to stroll ahead; he could almost hear that canned laughter in the background. "It’s all gewd and well sayin’ not ta tunnel, but wha’ cha suggest then? Aftar all, good intentions alone arn't-"

The Dwarf paused as a idea struck him, as he always tended to do. Dwarf wasn't especially smart despite his field since he just learnt what he had been thought. Yet there was a very practical, if short sighted wisdom to the fellow as he began to stroll out to the closest thing that passed as a main street, as words tumbled from his lips as the short strides carried him

"Ahh, perhaps we hav' been thinkin' 'bout tis the wrong way. After all, wha' happens when stife comes ta ya city? Ya get rich people, merchants namely, wantin' ta leav' ta protect their investments, 'n' wha' do they need more than wealth?" The dwarf finally carried himself to the main roads he had avoided as the first of many horse drawn carriages rolled past as the fellow gave a flicker of a eyebrow backwards and a wily wink. "Bodyguards. Tha's wher' we come in. Kouri ya get speakin' ta one of them, ya look like ta parteh face ta leave a good impression on them. I don't think I quite hav' that calm with my accent." A rumbling chuckle accompanied that suggestion as he gestured him on through. Sure, the lad probably said a paragraph when a sentence would do but he had a way with words that the player behind the Dwarf rarely could muster.

[Kouri]

So it was decided that they would travel through the city rather than the sewers, as Kay seemed quite claustrophobic. Kouri was fine with this, and the others seemed like they weren’t eager to rush into any battles anytime soon, which was good, all up until Tobin proposed a plan of action. Kouri was taken aback, “Y-you want me to pose as a merchant!? But…I…what if…” Kouri tried to think up an argument, but honestly it seemed like a solid plan. The three did look like the bodyguard types, and they would effectively play the part if need be. There was really no reason not to go through with it.

With a sigh, Kouri yielded, “All right, I’ll do it, come on then.” Hopefully his proficiency in performing arts would come in handy here, or they would be in a load of trouble. In all honesty he noticed the girl following them as they walked towards the tower but didn’t say anything to alert her of his awareness lest she be an enemy or PKer. She was pretty, and looked like a cleric based on her gear, but looks were deceiving, especially in a VR world.

Kouri was about to send a telepathic message to his party about her, but the guard stepped forward, interrupting him just as he was about to send it. “Business, please?” Ah, of course, it was a high level lockdown because of all the PKing. “Good morning. I’m looking to leave the city before my inventory gets smashed again. As it is I only have a few things left that weren’t stolen in the riot.” Kouri saw the girl out of the corner of his eye and he willed her not to get closer in case she was captured. This was dangerous, what did merchants even say to guards?

The guard watched them and Kouri smiled brightly, “Please, sir, I’m worried the riot might be getting close.” The guard leaned forward, “Show me your stock, merchant.” Kouri paled, “M-my stock? W-well most of it was destroyed, and I distributed it among my bodyguards so the rest would be safe. And uh…er…um…” Just then, a scream was heard behind them. The girl that was following the four had tripped, and Kouri thought fast, looking at her name, “Valentine! There you are! I’ve been looking all over for you!” He exclaimed, rushing over to help her up.

When she was up, he hugged her carefully, leaning close and whispering, “Just go with it, we can get you out of here.” Before pulling away and smiling. “Did you arrange for the rest of our stock to transfer through later today, right? Honestly I don’t know what I’d do without you, you’re a lifesaver! Glad I opened shop with you.” He took her arm gently, returned to the guard and smiled again, “Our supplies will be through later today, but we need to leave early to set up camp outside the city.” The guard watched them carefully, but must have decided that two clerics couldn’t be PKers and grudgingly nodded them through.

Kouri walked steadily, not looking back at the guard or saying anything until they were out of earshot, where he let her arm go. “Ah, thank you back there, saved our lives you did! Sorry about acting so friendly, but we would probably know each other well if we opened a shop together. You were following us, though, what was that about?” He asked cheerfully, his tone remaining light and friendly despite the awkward tension that should be there. Looking to the rest of the group, he ran his hand through his hair, “We’re not out of the woods yet, we’ve still gotta get through the outer town before we’re done, and there aren’t many guards, they’re all dealing with the scuffle. We’re vulnerable.” Turning back to Valentine, he clasped his hands together, “She can travel with us, right? We could use another healer, if you’re interested in the position.”

[Kaytina]

Kaytina Wolf Hair Monk Lv. 1

HP 100% MP 100%

STATUS: None

---

Embarrassment was a small price to pay in order to stay above ground. She thought on it more and tried to think how she could have beat around the bush more to get the same result without outright saying she was deathly afraid of tight spaces, but the time to say something else was up. At least they weren't going into the sewers, so that helped her to forget the embarrassment.

At this point, she really didn't have much to add to the group. Were she alone, she would have just bolted out of the front gate. It's not like the guards would have much of a problem with people leaving the city, right? Especially after what's going on inside the city where the level 100 robot-like guards were having trouble quelling the riots. Hm, that's a thought... why were the guards here trying to stop people from entering and leaving the city and not inside the city trying to calm the riots? Then she thought back to the limited time she played the game on the monitor. She passed by a gate like this on the way to the fields and there were no guards then. So why would there be guards here now?

They weren't guards. They were players, she surmised.

Kay said nothing about her assumption, though. She just repositioned herself to the back of the group and let Kouri do his unnecessary sweet talking to convince the "guards" to let them pass. In actuality, the guards had no intention of stopping the group. Right at they gate, they were still likely in the range of the robot guards jurisdiction. What she didn't expect was for their group to gain another member. Another Cleric. Kay spoke up in a very serious tone, "Invite her to the party now. We're going to have a fight on our hands real soon." If anyone stopped to question her, she barked, "keep moving, don't stop." She pulled the daggers out of their sheaths on her waist and held them in the same reverse grip she had before, with her index fingers through the ring on the pommel. Again, these weren't the knives she was used to in the real world, but for now this was all she had, so she had to make the best of it.

After the new girl, Valentine, was added to the group, Kay switched on party chat and looked around and back at the gate, the guards still there and looking right at them as they walked further away. "Those weren't guards. They were players. If I'm right, reconnaissance. They're setting up an ambush with their buddies hiding further ahead." If someone tried to turn around and look at them or run, Kay would stop them. "No, don't look, don't look any differently. For all they know, we're none the wiser. We need to disappear though, fast, unless someone has a better plan?" They were running out of time, though. The longer they took to decide on what to do, the more time the enemy had to move and circle them. "We need to think fast. At least get off the main road and try to lose them in the maze of side streets. Maybe split up if it comes down to it. Now, turn down this road here. As soon as you can't see them, bolt." She gestured to the street on their left. Since she was behind the group, she would be the last to see the "guards". They were already running toward them now. "Run!"

---

Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Hadrian

NOTES: Time for more action!

[Hadrian]

Group cohesion seemed to stay intact which was Alex’s biggest concern. No one had become overly upset about the decision to take Kay’s fear into account as a priority over their possible safety. Even better Tobin had convinced Kouri to do something rather outlandish. If it wasn’t for the rather serious and critical situation they had been in it would have been hard not to laugh. Kouri was such a genuine type of guy that it was a treat to watch him sweat through the line of questioning the guards gave. Not that either of them were guards. But it was best to play along without actually knowing their true intentions. Alex was never the type to tip his hand when all the information wasn’t available.

His focus had been primarily on the guards and anyone who approached them in the vicinity with an oddity or two. What he hadn’t noticed was the female cleric that Kouri now used as part of the rather entertaining rouse. They seemed to have been let through with little trouble aside from having to justify their reason for wanting to be let through in the first place. It was best to let Kouri handle the new comer now that his earlier suspicions had been confirmed by Kay. Alex followed along and didn’t say much, his mind more apt for running through several different scenarios on how to maintain control over the situation. Kay’s assessment was spot on but Alex knew that there might be a similar scenario once they reach the city limits.

The thing was their party wasn’t built for stealth. Tobin and Kay were best using for brute force. Now that they had a one to one cleric to tank ration it made things even more interesting. The minute they turned down the side street Alex followed Kay’s led and used the group chat. “You four stick together. Run right into the ambush and right over anyone in your path. There’s bound to be more ambushes like this right beyond the city limits.” The four of them had worked well together in a mass of chaos but a group on group combat where far more tactics were required was a very different battle. That experience was needed especially now that they had a new member. “Valentine, follow Kouri’s lead.”

Alex stopped running and unsheathed his claymore. “This build was made for a combat situation like this. I’ll hold off the two of them for a bit. Catch up later based on the map.” This was a rather perfect area for an ambush of his own. With the current list of skills guerilla combat was picture-perfect for him to be left alone. He used BLINK to get up on the roof of a smaller building and wait for the chance to attack. Alex truly believed that the group could win a head to head match with whoever waited on the other side of the ambush. But if they managed to be pincered the situation would be flipped.

“When you guys run into the other half of this ambush try to keep one alive for questioning” he suggested in the group chat before the group was too far. After they came just out of his view the two guards were right in position for him to surprise them. “Serpent Bolt” he called forth the spell just before he leapt down on the two PKers. The lighting that sprang forth from his body zapped each of them over and over again which kept them in a perpetual state of paralysis. With the narrow close quarter combat which had ensued he didn’t have to worry about either target no longer being in range. Slash after slash with his claymore allowed for a good deal of damage to be dealt as his focus was on the enemy Samurai happy that the Guardian was kept in place. The moment serpent bolt ran out the Samurai slashed at Alex. “BLINK” he called out just in time for the attack to miss him and hit the Guardian.

Alex had teleported back atop the roof and watched from above as the two tanks simply began to yell at each other. The grin which emerged was one of sheer delight. He hadn’t meant for their pursuers to verbally accost each other but until that ended he would wait for the right time to attack again. The chance to beat two tanks in combat was zero. The chance to delay and distract two idiots in guerilla combat, kill one of them, and then run away was extremely high.

WC: 765
Tag:Tobin, Valentine

SPOILER: Click to show

{OCC}Wanted to get in a post now since I'll be most likely unable to post from 11/2 - 11/6 so if my turn pops up skip me.

[Tobin]

WC: 763

There was an exasperated sigh and a raised eyebrow as Kouri had gone through his entire merchant routine. Yet somehow despite the lack of props the fellow somehow seemed to convince the guards of his occupation, though the resourcefulness to grab the blond lass from the crowds to assist with the deception.

-What a haphazard arrangement, though least tis lass is easy on the eye.-

The Dwarf let his eyebrow rise as he causally checked her out, his hand combed through the course facial hair thoughtfully. Though if she noticed the dwarf would pause as a sweat formed on his head and he waved as the silence was held, a faint rumble of a characteristic chuckle tickled the throat as the gaze turned back forward, only a slight flick towards Kaytina and a slight shrug revealed anything beyond a storic, bodyguard like demeanour. Silly squat fellow.

-Pity I’mma Dwarf. -

Eventually with that done the Dwarf was actually quite surprised as he cast a glance behind him, getting through this blockade had seemed easy. Too easy. Needless to say a weary glance was cast around him; bad things normally happened when things seemed easier something that was pressed back with an outburst to relieve the tension.

“Oi dipshit, I said try ‘n’ find a merchant, nut be a merchant” The Dwarf laughed heartingly “Though gotta admit, ya hav’ a talent fa-“ Of course, Kaytina had read the atmosphere much better than he had done and with a firm command finally shut the squat up. Tobin gave pause for thought as he ruffled his chin, he had to admit, she had a great instinct for someone who hadn't played before, a rumble left his throat. “Aye sounds fine, ya three go ahead ‘n’ get ta brew warmed up, I’ll just get some entertainment setup first.” Of course, the fellow was being surprisingly cryptic with his speech, though the intent behind his jibba jabba was obvious to those with context. Thus when the rumble of foot movement began the Dwarf broke into a jog, already a soft pant as the fellow seemed to haphazardly scramble behind them, down small alleyways, through buildings hallowed by raids, the surrounding’s seemed to blur though Hadien had disappeared, likely drawing a small portion of the Pkers off. It was only half a minute in, the Dwarf froze and turned in a small alleyway that seemed to bare just enough space for a dwarf as broad with walls tall. The sole gesture a upturned thumb.

“Go ahead, I will covar ya, setup a little trap up ahead quickleh, tis fellas are persistent”

The dwarf paused as they disappeared, before a curious eyebrow turned back to the players that followed as the sound vibrated with a volley of jeers as they noticed the sole figure blocking passage. The fellow himself gave a rumble of humour as a slight inclined of his head ushered the first challenger in, a guardian that bore a great spear two tobin’s in length.

“Tha’ all ya got laddie? Ya compensatin’ fa a short sha-“

The Dwarf shifted a step back as he deftly flicked aside the protrusion with an arm before with a grunt he gripped the shaft and swung once with a firm crack, as the guardian faltered the dwarf gave a firm kick to the shin and, as he took the moment to grip the foes head as a knee was driven right into the nose. The firm crack and the crimson fountain brought amusement to the stocky fellow, though internally Tobin felt uneasy from the causal violence on display. After all people had a tendency to underestimate the poorly armoured combatants, something the dwarf richly punished.

“I guess I were rite, there’s really no on-“ Again the conversation fell short as a Orb of fire pelted through the ground and struck him in the face, the smell of singed hair a accompanied the bellow of fury. His body turned a metallic grey as –iron body- was activated subconsciously from the desire to be hard, a flick of the arm met the flickering blade of the assassin as his other responded with a hefty blow, the dwarf flicked his arm as the crimsion liquid flowed quickly!

“Stop feckin’ intaruptin’ me, ya pussies wanna fight me all at once?” There was no smile this time as a fist stuck each wall and causally shook off the pain with a causal sweep, the challenge fairly obvious. “Hav’ at me ya tools!”

(OOC: Feel free to have guards swing around, I just ran out of momentum to write. XD @aslyssa you were up, I just decided to post first since you seemed distracted so post whenever you find the chance. Kouri)

[Kouri]

Kouri stayed silent as everyone around him talked. He was thinking. Processing. Everything was happening so fast, back there was too easy, they were right, something was most definitely wrong. There wasn’t time to plan much. Kay had a good idea, everything was under control. The problem was who he would follow. Hadrian didn’t need much help, as he had his blink skill. Kay also seemed to have fast reflexes, but then again, Tobin had higher health. He hoped the other cleric wouldn’t abandon them now, because it would be a good time to have another pair of healing hands in this situation. Tobin's comment made him laugh, and he shrugged playfully, "I couldn't tell what you meant! Maybe it's the accent..."

At Kay’s command, Kouri snapped completely out of his thoughts and jumped to attention. Everything happened quite fast, everyone had split up. Hadrian had blinked away, so Kouri didn’t have the choice to follow him, he just hoped the guy would play to his strengths and stay out of direct harm. Marc was clever, though, Kouri was sure he would know exactly how to use his skills to his advantage. Tobin however had rushed forward into some guards and already taken a hit. “Tobin you insufferable ass!” He shouted, a hint of humor laced throughout his voice.

Kay had taken off with Tobin into the frey, so he would be able to heal both, luckily. His thoughts had kept him stationary for too long, however, and the man who had been posing as guard before snuck up behind him and landed a hard blow on Kouri’s back, pushing him forward onto the ground. Kouri’s health went down to a 39%, and he winced, attempting to sit up, but finding a large boot on his chest. The man said nothing, only looking down with a smirk before chuckling darky, “Merchant, huh?”

With a smile, Kouri shrugged, “Not quite.” There was a pause. The man began lifting his sword to make a killing blow, it rose up…up…and…GRAB TWIST PULL LIFT FLIP UP HIT Kouri was now the one in control, and he grabbed the ‘guard’s’ arm, twisting it painfully. “You forgot that real life skills can transfer over into the game! Like Kay with her knives, Marc with his cleverness, Tobin with his boldness. They aren’t programmed, they’re real. You felt powerless before, and here you are stronger than my class by quite a bit, but you have no real talent as a fighter, only the programming. You use this as a way to make yourself feel better, because of your lack of self confidence, but it's not the right thing to do.”

He let go, “Now knock it off.” Kouri turned and began to move to follow Kay, but the man leaped up and grabbed his sword once more, rushing towards the cleric. With a grimace, Kouri pulled his own sword, turned…and the man ran directly into it. He gave him a sincerely apologetic expression, “I’m sorry…” He said, twisting the blade painfully as he watched the man’s health drain, continuing to twist until the bar reached 0%. Kouri winced and turned away, hurrying to follow the group.

Shaking his head, he ran to Tobin, holding out his hand and mentally activating his quick heal skill on the man, keeping a safe distance back. “Tobin, I think it’s you who attracts all this trouble!” He laughed, finishing up healing the wounds Tobin had gotten fighting. Kouri didn’t want to risk looking back to check if the second cleric had come to help support, he needed to keep his eyes ahead and his sword ready. A group broke off and charged him and Kouri held out both hands quickly, activating Holy Rampage and forcing the enemies back into the mass of fighters, where they fell onto their backs, becoming quite vulnerable.

Now, however, Kouri couldn’t use magic for a moment, and it made him feel a bit weird. Almost…dizzy. That was a rough skill to use. “You guys got this! I didn’t think we’d get so much practice without even leaving the city!” Kouri exclaimed optimistically, swinging his sword at a fighter who was charging from the side. “No fair, man!” He laughed, quickly beginning to duel with the man. His practice fighting helped him overcome his lack of skills, but it made fighting against a programmed fighter harder, therefore neither of them managed to get many hits in. It was more of one of those dramatic moments where it was the clanging of metal against metal. The scene was almost…entertaining, despite his life being on the line.

SPOILER: Click to show

{OOC}
(Sorry this took so long! It's a bit rushed, but it needed to get done for you guys. ^^ Wheeee fighting~
Kaytina Valentine)

[Kaytina]

Kaytina Wolf Hair Monk Lv. 1

HP 96% MP 100%

STATUS: None

---

A great deal was happening around them. It wasn't going to be as straight forward as Kay thought. Their ambushers had embedded themselves around nearly every escape route. Maybe it would have been better to just go with the flow and let their group be cornered and deal with them then? As it stands now, everyone's separating from the group to do their own things. Hadrian stayed behind to fight with the two "guards" that had started to chase them after it was obvious she was on to their ploy. Then after a short while of running, Tobin turned into an alley and stayed behind along with Kouri. So then there Kay was with one cleric and no other back up. She didn't really even know what all clerics could do. They certainly didn't look too well dressed to fight, though Kouri had a sword at least. The girl cleric looked completely out of place. The group sort of ended up sucking her into this mess now and now she's Kay's problem.

She responded to Hadrian first. "I'll make no promises about keeping any alive. I'm still having trouble figuring out this whole HP thing." She got the basics, but she didn't know how her attacks translated into how much is taken off her opponents. She didn't have much time to reply to anything else. Shortly after Tobin and Kouri splintered off, Kay and the girl cleric ran into the rest of their enemy group on this side of the area. Two mages and an archer.

Kay side-stepped in front of the girl she was now essentially protecting and took an arrow to her chest. It struck a rib, hurt, but relative to her total HP, it didn't take too much off of her. Her first target was the archer. Kay rushed toward her, didn't even take out her knives, and just punched the archer square in the face as they tried to nock another arrow. They were moving almost robotic, there was no way they could move out of the way in time to avoid her attack. The speed of her run and the strength of her punch tore through the archer's HP until it almost hit 60%. The mages were targeting her now. She wouldn't have been able to run to them in time, so she just picked up the disorientated archer and used her as a human shield to soak up what was probably the mages' more powerful spells intended for Kay. This was child's play. At least the fighters in the city put up a fight.

"Oy, Tob, Had, can we switch? These pussies don't know how to fight. I think that's the reason why they're sitting out here trying to ambush people."

The archer died in Kay's arms after several bombardments of spells. She disintegrated into whatever it was that people disintegrated into here and it left her needing to fight the two mages. They were fumbling around their bags for something, so she took the chance to close the distance and get right up in front of them. They were both cat-men. They both just stopped immediately and looked at her before dropping their sticks and getting on their knees begging for their lives.

"I got two pussies for you to interrogate, Had. Don't die before you get here." She turned to the girl cleric. "You, help me tie them up." She turned, grabbed a bit of one of the mens' clothes, and tore off a long strip to use as a make-shift rope, which she then used to tie up his arms behind his back and forced him to lay on his stomach in the dirt. She honestly didn't expect the girl to help her with this, so Kay would have to tie up the other one, too. She then confiscated their sticks, staves, wands, whatever, and bags.

---

Skills Used: n/a

Tags: Hadrian, Valentine

NOTES: Better late than never, yes? Hope Had and Kouri still visit occasionally. Maybe being tagged will send them an email or something.

[Tobin]

Kaytina, Kouri

(Sorry for taking so long. HERE IT IS PARTY PEOPLE!)

WC: 675 HP:5% Mana: 34%

It was funny that after a while how after a period of time, patterns emerge. At least that how Tobin felt as he ducked the spear for the 7th time, the jab was rewarded with one of his own before a blade flashed across his vision; even as he stepped back the searing bolt that cut across his face confirmed that he hadn't been entirely successful, with a flash of red his fist thundered out once more, the forearm didn't quite retreat quickly enough as a impact and a soft crunch was a satisfying enough reward. The Dwarf retreated another two steps back, the sudden loss of vision in his right eye drew a sharp curse as he slammed a palm against the injured socket.

"Ya son of a bitch."

There was little time to laminate the loss as his eye scanned the crowd, it had dispersed to 5 once they found their numbers were of little use, most that remained were opportunists looking for an easy kill. Only two really sought the fight; a Guardian Human and a swashbuckler werecat had long taken point to prove to their gang that they were strong. Unlike the others they were real fighters and had that ambition to conquer a world they barely understood, seemed rather stupid and primitive now that he thought about it like that but being immortal was quite akin to having a sports car; some just wanted to see how fast they can go.

-How bloody annoying. If they could surround me, probably would be dead.-

That much was true, the Dwarf had a couple spear wounds that leaked essence and at least double that gashes. The only consolation was that the swashbuckler had quieted down since then, the majority of those wounds were dealt when the Swashbucker boldly challenged him, only to get brutalised in the opening exchange, since then the pussy (both metaphor and descriptive!) had largely fought on fumes, only alive due to the great broad bald human that blocked passage, his tribal tattoos contorted into the shape of a eagle features furrowed; the loud bellowing might as well have been in some other tongue (or perhaps it was) for all the Dwarf cared.

-Well, the backstreets of London, not on my list of places to die.-

Tobin braced himself at the top of the steady incline, he chanced a quick glance up and was immediately disappointed by the lack of saviour, his metallic fists tightened he braced himself- only to be surprised as a brilliant blast of light cut down from somewhere above as a single fireball catapulted into the rusted chestplate and catapulted down the street, the mob for a moment faultered.

-Now-

A surge of adrenalin kicked in as pylon legs pounced off the floor, in a jump distance that surprised him he threw himself onto the dazed Werecat. Terror flared up in his eyes, though it was just as well that the Dwarf caught it’s face between broad hands and closed it’s eyes forever by ramming his thumbs inside the sockets, a loud crack as he slammed it’s head against the cobbles brought silence to the piercing scream. Before his eyes, the swashbuckler shattered into sparkles.

“Salvaina! NO! You bloody midget!”

The Dwarf felt the wind before the blow from behind came with the force of a sledgehammer, his vision spun as the sharp pain as the warrior had him pinned with the dull point of the spear. It was only an involuntary movement of Tobin’s hand and the warriors distraction of his own simmering face that stopped the shaft splitting him to two there and then. In the moment, Tobin fling his body into a forceful roll to slam into the warrior, though the spreading wet and the sudden weakness drew a slight laugh from the Dwarf as he attempted to rise, but felt his arms give out as he crumbled to the earth.

“I blame you, for the moonlight sky.”

The soft spoken words drew a sigh; even the annoying level up Icon couldn’t deny the inevitable.