Everything was in place. After going through a few more names for his horse while he searched and rechecked all of his supplies, he was positive he had enough for two, maybe three people on a short trip. A days travel to the bandit camp and then a day returning, he had more than enough food and plenty of water. One of his teachers warned him not to pack too much to carry, but Leifr was confident in his strength and more confident in his warhorse's. This much should be no problem. Tapping his noble garments and ensuring that his chainmail was not loose underneath, he adjusted the shield on his back and squeezed the handle of his sword that hanged at his side. The familiar but nonetheless uncomfortable aura emerged from the thirsty blade. Quickly releasing his grasp on it and shaking his hand as if some residue were on it he then checked the other side of his waist for his side-arm. A quick shake of the sheathed short sword ensured that his belt and scabbard were securely on his person. He was content with his current load out. All that was left was to check on Lyrisa and see if she was buying the correct supplies.

Leading his warhorse he started heading in a random direction down a street... but immediately stopped when he spotted Lyrisa just in eyesight of the barracks, peacefully reading. She obviously went straight to reading after Leifr left her. Leifr rubbed his forehead in irritation, wondering what that girl was thinking before brushing his hand through his hair and taking a deep breath to calm himself. It's fine, he thought, I have enough food and water for her as well. With a tug on the reigns he headed towards Lyrisa.

“Milady, I had thought you would be out gathering supplies right now. You would have plenty of time to read when we head for the bandit camp.”

...Speaking of the bandit camp, Lyrisa was just a girl wasn't she? Even if she had done it before, Leifr simply couldn't bring a child into such danger. Maybe it was her culture, and she was actually a battle-hardened warrior. That frightened Leifr even more: even if such myths about child-warriors from the north were common it surely couldn't be true in Gallestre. Leifr started thinking about how to dissuade her from this line of work.

“Milady, if I may speak my mind,” he started, crouched on one knee so he was at a similar eye level with her and cleared his throat. “Where we are headed is likely to be a dangerous place where we may lose our lives. I would gladly give my life to protect you, milady, but I am afraid for you should it not be enough. Surely if you, Lady Kortine, were to die there would be people who would grieve bitterly over the loss of such a noble woman. Is there a reason you have that you would abandon friend and family to perform jobs such as this?”

"She has no parents," Fiore said as he held Odysseus by his reins, the two standing just behind the young adult - who was around Fiore's age - under the house of the Forbannet and his horse. "So, we should make sure we protect her, make sure she doesn't die, eh?" Fiore added in the "eh" part at the last moment, sounding rushed and unnatural when it came out of Fiore's mouth. Odysseus let out a soft nicker through his nostrils, and at the sound of that, Fiore let go of his reins, letting him move about freely, which Odysseus did just that by trotting up to the other horse happily.

"My name is Fiore," Fiore said as he walked up to the girl. "Hey, you're pretty cute, huh? Cuter than that lovely worker back there in the tavern." Fiore said this in a sly tone - or at least as best as he could - trying to reference what he said to the girl before he ran off to make sure Odysseus was okay. Fiore grinned and then looked towards the young man, grinning as best as he could.

"What's your name?" Fiore asked, his grin staying on his face, trying to communicate that he was an ally, which was already communicated since they were too do the same job together as a "team," something that Fiore hadn't done in a while, which caused Fiore to jump around in excitement.

Lyrisa looked up at Leifr as he spoke of her not gathering her supplies. "I already have everything I need. If you didn't know, I've been traveling for a while now, here and there." She put her book away to give him a better response. He didn't seem to notice really.

Then he attempted to dissuade her. This was something she expected from a noble that referred to her as "Lady". She was of no court or anything. "Alright, I'll admit I'm no fighter. But if this is a mystery to be solved, well, you'll need brains. I've not really got anyone to worry about me anyhow. . ." She trailed off. It was picked up by an all too familiar. . . Albeit annoying voice.

"She has no parents." It was the guy from the bar. Oh, it just had to be him again, smug with his annoying attitude. He deserved a punch to the guts for all the stress he's put Lyrisa through. That's what she thought at least. He started walking towards her though and introduced himself as Fiore. "Hey, you're pretty cute, huh? Cuter than that lovely worker back there in the tavern."

He didn't know where the line to stop was. Calling her a child first, then calling her cute. What was he? "Creep." She said giving him but a sideways glance. It was oh so hard to get along with those types.

Leifr felt like he was beginning to understand. First, he was understanding Lyrisa a bit better. Second, he understanding that he was treading towards a landmine. A familiar voice picked up where Lyrisa faltered, casually stepping on the mine and explaining the situation.

“Ah.”

That was all Leifr could respond with. He hardly noticed the other man's horse wander on over.

The feeling of having two large horses behind you while you were crouching is... discomforting to say the least. As the man, who introduced himself as Fiore, spoke to Lyrisa his steed seemed friendly and was apparently trying to get along with Leifr's, but of course the finicky and haughty warhorse that dismissed every name Leifr tried giving it seemed uninterested. It glanced at Fiore's steed, sniffed the air a bit, then looked away towards some unknown thing of apparently greater interest. Leifr rose from the ground and brushed off his knee. It was then that Fiore turned his attention to Leifr.

Eh, did Leifr misunderstand? Based on Fiore's actions before he believed that Fiore knew of Leifr previously, but he asked for Leifr's name. Maybe he is just a friendly person, thought Leifr as returned Fiore's camaraderie with a warm smile.

“Leifr of the noble House Forbannet, at your service, Sir Fiore.”

Leifr gave a slight bow with his introduction, but he cast a sideways glance at Lyrisa, thinking about her words. How long she's been alone Leifr did not know, but he now understood that she was capable of taking care of herself. Straightening back up, he smiled at Fiore and then at Lyrisa.

“Are we ready to head out, milord, milady? It'll be a couple of days before we return if all goes well so make sure you have everything you need.”

"Odysseus and I are ready to head out when you two are," Fiore said as he calmly walked towards Odysseus, running his hands through Odysseus' mane, which was thin and short to lie flatly against Odysseus' neck. Odysseus stared out towards the street, looking at the waves of people.

"Huh... I thought you took an interest in Leifr's horse..." Fiore whispered into Odysseus' ear. Odysseus looked at Fiore, his glare at Fiore making a statement, a statement of pure annoyance towards Fiore. "... All right, all right! I won't question it anymore..." Fiore looked over towards Leifr and the girl, unknowingly giving a slight nod.

My companions for the next few days on this job... Fiore said in his head. The corner of Fiore's mouth seemed to give way to a slight grin. This is going to be exciting, just like the old days, even if one of them is a girl and the other is a kind man under the house of the Forbannet. Fiore turned around to look at Odysseus.

"This can go either extremely well... or extremely wrong..." Fiore whispered in Odysseus' ear. Odysseus snorted instantly without hesitation after hearing it, looking at Fiore, glaring at him with his penetrating eyes, almost as if he was saying, "Do you not trust your noble steed?" Fiore looked self defeated now, taking a glance at Leifr's warhorse and then back at Odysseus.

"... Well, you did say you didn't want to charge into battle-" Odysseus squealed towards Fiore, which caught Fiore off guard. Fiore was taken aback, and then looked at Odysseus, who's eyes were filled with utter determination. "... Well all right then." Fiore brushed Odysseus' mane as he turned around to look towards Leifr and the girl.

"I have some days of ration," That was a lie. Fiore had more than "some" days of rations, he had thirty-five days of rations. The only reason he said some days of ration was because the job was likely to end with the bandits, and he didn't want to really brag about rations. "Three canteens of water, so I'm prepared on my part."

Soon enough, it was time to go on their way. It was about early afternoon now. Their supplies were all in check and there were very few clouds in the sky. Both the sun and the Day Moon were high up, the Day Moon being mostly full. Even though Lyrisa had no horse, it was somewhat easy for her to ride on the back of Leifr's warhorse, it being a small bit stronger than a regular riding horse like Odysseus, not that she probably wanted to ride on the back of Fiore's horse with him anyway. Still, the plains of Gallastre were flat with the occasional tree here and there. It was quite easy to travel across on horseback, getting their after a day's ride indeed being possible as long as there were no interruptions.

Luckily the day's ride to the slightly hilly area north of Calgeth was uninterrupted. There weren't really any others on the road and the weather was peaceful. Soon enough they had to set camp for the night, the three of them taking turns to keep watch as they set up camp a bit off the beaten path in order to avoid detection. Luckily nothing happened through the night. In fact, with the three moons being nearly full in the sky, the night was remarkably calm. It was hard to see why some people viewed this an ominous event. Of course, with people vanishing around this time as well one could see why some people thought that this was an ominous time as well, but that could just be coincidence as well.

Around early afternoon the next day the small group arrived at the slightly hilly region north of Calgeth where the bandit camp was supposedly located, the group most likely going to need to do some searching in order to find it as it was probably tucked away and hidden in these hills somewhere. Before they could even begin looking though suddenly four figures rode up on horses. They wore brown leather armor. Two of them carried somewhat average quality long swords and one a wooden shield. The third one carried two battle axes and the fourth a crossbow with a short sword strapped to his hp.

"Well well well, looks like we got ourselves some people who got lost." The bandit with the axes smirked, his somewhat rough, scarred face holding a coy smirk as he drew his two axes while the fourth prepared his crossbow. "Why don't you three just leave your things here before ya lose your lives as well. These hills are our territory now, and coming through or even near here requires a toll."

They were going to meet bandits sooner or later, that was a given. Leifr just wished that they didn't come themselves at such an inopportune time. Glancing back at Lyrisa with worry, he pondered on how to get out of this predicament without himself or his company being seriously injured. The fact that he had a passenger on his horse limited him severely in horsefighting as he'd be hard pressed to defend not only himself and his horse but her as well. Not to mention that she didn't have a sword or shield or any other weapon that was easy to use on horseback. Liefr decided that his best bet was to try bluffing.

Leifr forced a confident smile and bit back his nervousness. As he started pulling his shield off his back he looked over to Fiore and said in as nonchalant a tone as he could muster,

“We are in luck, Blade Master. To think that we would find our targets so quickly. Our tasks as forward scouts are almost complete, milord: Now,” Leifr furrowed his brow and revealed a toothy grin, trying to look as intimidating and fearless as possible, “I must ask that you, a famous warrior of the north who has slain over one hundred men, to dirty your blade on a few mongrels such as these while we await our noble lord's full retinue of eighty veteran soldiers to arrive.”

With the end of his bluff marked by him finishing equipping his shield to his arm, he looked at Fiore and then glanced at the one with the crossbow in effort to communicate that Fiore should head for the ranged fighter. Leaned back so that he was a bit closer to Lyrisa, he whispered,

“Lady Kortine, I must ask if you know how to ride a horse.”

If she answered that she could, Leifr decided that it would be best to get off himself and have her retreat on his warhorse to a safe distance. He forgone the armor that was usually place upon warhorses in hopes that the unburdened horse would be able to run faster than any other bandits. Of course, if she couldn't, Leifr had one of two difficult choices to make: to fight with her holding onto him, or to ask her to get off and then try to protect her from horseback.

“But maybe if they tell us where their base is located, we can spare them!” Leifr yelled out as he unfastened his cursed blade and pointed it at the bandit with the two axes, faintly hoping that one of them could sense the wretched aura that consumed Leifr's arm. He hoped that his bluff worked, and if it didn't he really wished that the bandits themselves would give them a chance to escape or strike first.

"Mercy," Fiore said as he got off Odysseus, his hand on the pommel of his rapier. "They look intimidating, but that's all they likely have, it's unknown if they can use an axe, a sword, or a crossbow," Fiore scanned his enemies, assessing them out loud as they rode up to the three. "A parrying dagger would be useless against an axe, but a sword... I'll drop it when I'm finished with the swordsman, the crossbowman should be our highest priority, he's likely to cause the most damage if we leave him be..." Fiore's voice trailed off at the end, he was sure they would be able to win the fight with minimal casualties, but what about the girl?

Fiore looked up towards the girl. "If you can ride a horse, get on Odysseus and go towards a safe area away from the fight. Leifr can't fight with you on his horse, you're just an asset right now, a cute asset, but an asset nonetheless. If you can't, just run away and come back when we're finished."

Fiore was cruel, crueler then usual, but this was due to him being in combat, or at least about to be in combat. When Fiore was about to fight, Fiore was a bit more blunt, usually because he didn't want the weak to get hurt for no reason, but Fiore did believe in mercy.

"Exalia, prepare for another fight," Fiore said as he watched as the oncoming group of bandits riding towards them. "I believe they're going to want to talk to us first, we can use that chance to catch them off guard and charge towards them, I'll try my best to rush towards the crossbowman, but, before we start, I only have one question," Fiore looked up at Leifr, who was still on his horse. "Are you ready, Leifr of the house Forbannet?"

Lyris dropped from the horse. Leifr's and Fiore's words irritated her to no end. As if she were just going to run at this point. "You're both idiots. . . Well, the noble. . . Is like everyone else if you think I'm running now." She said in a curt manner. "And if you don't drop," She pointed to Leifr and then raised the pitch of her voice, mocking the mannerisms of the high class women, "'Lady Kortine' or 'Milady'," She went back to her normal pitch, "It's going to annoy the every loving crap outta' me." The girl reached to her whip that hanged from her side. "Besides, I know how to use this thing. I'll be safe enough, ten feet away." From the distance it looks like rope anyhow. "Plus, if I ride away now, they'll probably just chase me and you don't get your preemptive attack." She made sure the bandits didn't hear that though.

After their short bit of planning before the bandits arrived, Fiore dismounting since horseback combat wasn't exactly his style especially with his horse, the bandits arrived and then began to talk and then Leifr tried to make his bluff. (You know, cause your convo's warped time, here is the way around it)

Leifr Bluff: 15 + 3 Talent = 18

---

Two of them seemed to take a step back on their horses. The one with just a long sword and the man with the Crossbow. They seemed to buy it, clearly not wanting to deal with someone like that. The one with the sword and shield seemed to also be fooled for just a moment, but then also noticed that there seemed to be something with that whole story. The man with the axes just laughed, smirking at the three of them. "Blade master? Eighty soldiers? Please, there's no way those foolish nobles would waste their time on us. You talk a good story, but next time make sure you talk a true one eh?"

Both the Crossbow wielding bandit and the one with the long sword seemed to no longer believe the bluff now thanks to the 'leader' of the small group of bandit's words. "Well, since you like telling lies here's a truth, you're gonna die and we'll just loot the corpses!"

The man with the crossbow fired it now at Leifr, whose blade may have given off an aura, but it was invisible and really only able to be felt by those who could sense power since aura really is only visible to those who give it off. The bolt barely managed to get past Leifr's shield, hitting him hard in the shoulder. Luckily it probably just left a bruise as his armor managed to absorb a good brunt of the damage.

"So, you gonna give us your stuff or do you wanna die next? Doesn't matter, cause you're gonna die anyway!" The man with the axes called this out loudly after the one with the crossbow shot, trying to intimidate the three of them.

---

Leifr Concentration: 17 + 4 Talent = 21
Lyrisa Concentration: 2 + 9 Talent = 11
Fiore Concentration: 9 + 2 Talent = 11

All intimidated, all suffer -2 to all Rolls for the next Round

---

Unfortunately it seemed to work, the man seeming quite intimidating, making it a small bit harder to fight back against them as one bandit with just the sword charged towards Leifr after quickly dismounting. The one with the sword and shield dismounted as well and charged towards Fiore.

The man with just the broadsword charged towards Leifr, attempting to slash at him with the heavy looking blade. The blade, unfortunately, got past Leifr's guard and managed to cut pretty deep, his armor still absorbing a very good brunt of the blow. Still, it did some heavy damage, Leifr's slightly unnerved self having a small bit harder of a time blocking the blade, Leifr feeling a small bit weakened now.

Another bandit charged towards Fiore now, aiming to attack him with his own broadsword, shield brandished as he ran forward towards the duelist. Fortunately Fiore was able to parry the blade with his own quite easily, even despite his slightly unnerved self. This attack opened the man to a counterattack though as Fiore, with his speed and weapon, would be able to pull off a bit of a riposte against this foe.

---

Fiore Riposte: 15 + 15 Talent + 1 Weapon bonus - 5 Free Attack - 2 Intimidation = 24

---

Fiore's blade managed to slip past the Bandit guard's shield and weapon just barely, his strength and sharpness of his blade able to pierce the guard a good bit, getting through his armor. The man was somewhat wounded, looking a little weakened now. Still, these bandits were raring to go, and only three of them attacked within these moments.

Still, now the group had the chance to counterattack now since it seemed like these bandits were not open to negotiating.

The crossbow bolt hurt, but it was nothing compared to the bite of the bandit's blade. Leifr forced himself to stay upright on his steed which was now fidgeting due to the hostility of the others. Fiore got tangled up with another bandit, but Leifr didn't have time to think about Fiore's situation. That crossbowman was now unopposed. If Leifr disengaged this current fight and rushed towards the other bandits, Lyrisa would be left alone to deal with this one.

Think Leifr, he yelled inside his mind, How can you stop the crossbowman? The first step was to make Lyrisa's battle easier. Hoping that the crossbowman's aim wasn't true and that the other bandit wouldn't try interfering, Leifr focused on the one in front of him and raised his blade to the side. As if the sword was feeling his intent, Leifr felt imaginary teeth press against his hand. With a kick, the warhorse charged forward a bit and he used the momentum to fuel a low swing at the bandit, wincing as the cursed blade greedily devoured a bit more of his life. If all goes well, Leifr in combination with Lyrisa may be able to subdue this bandit before the others could retaliate.

C'mon, Fiore! Fiore yelled out into his head as he thought about Leifr getting hit by the crossbow bolt again, the image playing out again in his head. Fiore quickly jumped back a bit from the bandit, his rapier and parrying dagger in hand. Take down this bandit, go for the crossbowman, and subdue every one else. Fiore's brow twitched as he assessed the situation, looking back towards the bandit in front of him. Perhaps he's wreck less- no, he is.

Fiore emphasized the last part, taking the risk in believing that he - the bandit - was wreck less enough to try and go in for a strike. Fiore didn't have time to assess the situation and his options, time was now a luxury, especially in combat, Fiore had to take a risk, and he had to take it now. I'll parry his blow and try to riposte with Exalia Fiore gave off a small nod and prepared for his opponent to try and strike him to go in for a parry, knowing full well that if he didn't then Fiore could easily be taken off guard by another bandit - or worse, a crossbow bolt flying towards his head.

Leifr prepared his attack, feeling a strange, but maybe familiar sensation on his arm. He felt life being sucked out of him as he swung the blade towards the Bandit while on horse back, his horse itself also attacking as Leifr charged it forward, the beast using its own hoofs as both beast and Leifr attacked at the same time with Leifr's attack going off first, swinging the strange Khopesh towards the bandit.

---

Leifr Attack: 12 + 12 Talent + 1 Weapon = 25

---

The blade hit deep as the blade fed on the Bandit, easily getting past the man's guard and cutting him pretty deeply, the man looking pretty bloodied now as the blade struck very true. The horse then kicked with its hooves next, although as directing this as part of Leifr's attack and charge rather than an attack of its own seemed to make the spontaneous hoof attack a little less accurate.

The bandit was in pretty bad shape to begin with thanks to Leifr's sword attack, so when the hoofs of the horse slammed into the bandit, easily passing his guard, there was no way he was going to survive. The hoof of the horse did a large bit of damage as the heavy attack connected easily, still knocking the man down despite his armor and the slightly less accurate nature of the attack. After that, the man was out, either dead or unconscious, but probably the second one. Still, with three more bandits there wasn't really any time to worry about the condition of the one that Leifr's horse just knocked out, the bandit probably bleeding out slowly if he was still alive.

Lyrisa watched as the combat events happened. First, Leifr took a crossbow bolt right in front of her. It wasn't the first time she had seen such a thing, but it wasn't exactly what she wanted to see then he took a wound from another bandit which he promptly dispatched with his yet unnamed horse. Lyrisa was thinking Gwenna, but she wouldn't offer the name until after combat. The closest enemy would be the one fighting her rival, Fiore. As much as she loath to help him . . . They were a team. And a team divided is no team. Lyrisa attempted to move around to get a better vantage of the fiend. If she gave Fiore the chance to make a dash for the crossbowman, then they had a chance of taking no more injuries. . . Crossbows were never the easiest thing to load after all. With her whip in her hand as she got a clear view of Fiore's opponent, she readied to attack.

Lyrisa would angle herself perfectly then whip the bandit from the safe distance that the reach weapon not really meant for parrying had. The whip also wouldn't really be best for short distance attacking either, but for attacking from a small distance of five feet away it was pretty good, even if its damage wasn't that great.

---

Lyrisa Melee Weaponry: 1 + 7 Talent - 11 = -3 (Fumble)

---

Lyrisa was a scholar, not a fighter. Well, she could fight, but apparently not really well. It was a mistake to learn from though, if they all survived. A whip was a complicated weapon to use and Lyrisa wasn't really a trained combatant, so when she tried to snap the whip perhaps it was just a mistake this one time, but instead of snapping the whip at the bandit she somehow managed to accidentally whip Fiore with the whip, managing to get him somewhat decently with the weapon on accident.

On the bandit's counterattack, the first one with the sword and shield saw Fiore get whipped and took advantage of this opportunity to try and get in an attack himself as well. Luckily Fiore managed to parry this blow away once again despite him getting whipped by Lyrisa's mistake. Still, Fiore was ready and he had prepared for this attack, getting in a much more accurate counterattack after he was attacked.

---

Fiore Riposte: 11 + 15 Talent + 1 Weapon = 27

---

Fiore's Rapier hit on the mark, cutting the man deep, putting him in even worse shape now than before. While the crossbowman could have gone after Lyrisa, he decided that, with her poor handling of her own weapon, but was currently reloading his weapon as quickly as he could, crossbows not exactly being the quickest weapons to reload after all.

The dual axe wielding bandit, seeing his pal in trouble, decided to attack Fiore as well. He rushed forward, wielding both axes as he brandished them both, attempting to attack Fiore now that he had two opponents upon him. The first axe was easily parried, but the second axe got swiftly past Fiore's guard, cutting him very deeply, his armor only absorbing a small portion of the blow. Fiore was now in incredibly bad shape, but despite that he was still somehow standing even though he could collapse at any moment now, able to fight despite his incredibly deep wound, still able to get off a more spontaneous counterattack within these few moments since his last one was well prepared and ready.

---

Fiore Riposte: 17 + 15 Talent + 1 Weapon - 5 Free Attack Penalty = 27

---

The blade stabbed deep into the dual axe wielding bandit, who currently seemed to be the biggest threat thanks to how he managed to nearly eviscerate Fiore with his secondary hand axe swing, Fiore having to fight two opponents at the same time not really being much of help. Things were starting to look tough.

Leifr deeply hoped that the man was just unconscious and not slain, but now was not the time to check. Within moments, Lyrisa mishandled her weapon and struck Fiore, but Fiore was able to control his pain and parry his enemy once again and return yet another piercing thrust. Leifr's mind cheered for Fiore's graceful fighting style, but a figure flashed to his side and the glint of a cruel blade soon drew blood from Fiore's body.

“Fiore!”

Tightly gripping the reigns with his shield hand Leifr quickly snapped them and charged past Lyrisa towards the axe-wielding bandit. With his warhorse's speed he should be able to have quite a bit of force, and Leifr gladly let the cursed blade devour a bit more of his life if in return it would eat the bandit's as well. Leifr swung hard in tandem with the force of his steed's charge, the khopesh cleaving through the air at a low angle as the twisted blade ravenously lurched towards the presumed bandit leader.

Fiore smiled graciously as Leifr rushed to his aid, even though blood was slowly coming out of his wound, even though he could collapse any minute now, even though he could die at any minute now, Fiore appreciated the help, even the help that the girl tried to give, even though it sorely gave the bandits an advantage, Fiore appreciated the fact that she tried to help him.

One final thrust, Fiore thought's raced in his head, he had no more time to wait. Leifr can handle the axe-wielding bandit, the sword and shield one is weak and unprepared, I'll attack him and charge towards the crossbowman, using riposte right then and there! I have no time to waste to wait for Leifr!

First came the Khopesh, leeching more of Leifr's life force from him as the blade cleaved through the air, attempting to cut the bandit with its thirsty blade, the axe bandit now being flanked on two sides thanks to Fiore and Leifr.

---

Leifr Attack: 6 + 12 Talent + 2 Weapon + 3 Flanking -1 Bloodied = 22

---

The blade swung through the air, and would have been parried by the man's axes, but having to deal with Leifr on his horse and Fiore both at once was a bit too much for his currently slightly bloodied self, the numbers in this case allowing the blade to get past the bandit's guard just enough for Fiore to cut the bandit with the thirsty blade. Following Leifr's blade and a cry from the man as the thirsty blade found his blood and flesh came a flash of horse hooves towards the man as the horse, during the charge, attacked as well. Unfortunately the horse hooves were a bit easier to parry in this case for the extremely bloodied, axe wielding bandit, who looked just as about a little less bad off than Fiore did, although he only barely parried the hooves.

Still, now Fiore and Lyrisa still had an opportunity to attack, the man with the crossbow almost done with reloading the ranged weapon and Fiore, instead of waiting to counterattack this time, decided to just go ahead and strike the bandit with the sword and shield, his very, very weak self making it a bit harder for his strike to land, but he would attempt to strike nonetheless.

---

Fiore Attack: 9 + 16 Talent + 1 Weaponry - 3 Bloodied = 23

---

The blade struck true enough, getting past the man's guard despite Fiore's condition, stabbing him in the center. The man, in a cry of pain, went down, but may or may not have been still alive. In fact, he looked more unconscious than anything, as if the man's armor barely saved him from a mortal blow that would cause him to begin bleeding out. Still, there was not enough time to worry about such things right now as Fiore, after his attack, moved towards the crossbowman, who was almost finished with reloading his crossbow, eyes widening a bit as the cut up Fiore moved towards him.

Lyrisa figured, all in all, that Leifr and his horse could handle the axeman. Fiore wasn't looking in good shape right now and he was charging straight for the crossbowman. She felt. . . Guilty that she had hit Fiore earlier, even if he was a creep. She moved towards the crossbowman and readied her weapon again, hopefully not hitting an "ally" in the process this time.

Lyrisa also moved towards the crossbowman now, whip in hand, hoping to not accidentally hit an ally this time, a mistake she learned from before to help improve her skills in combat a slight bit. Unlike Fiore, she was able to attack though within these few moments, staying from a safe five feet away as she whipped her weapon towards the crossbowman. With Fiore right next to the crossbowman though he now had to deal with two people whose weapons he was in reach of.

---

Lyrisa Attack: 12 + 8 Talent + 2 Flanking = 22

---

The attack connected, not really as much as one would have liked though. The man was somewhat quick on his feet, managing to barely dodge. He still got hit though and the attack still seemed to connect and do some damage, but his armor seemed to absorb most of the blow from the whip.

"Damn all of you, ill see your bodies on the ground and your coin in our pockets!" The axe wielding bandit seemed quite angry now, slashing at Leifr's horse now, trying to get the nobleman down from his steed by attacking the steed. The axe hit the horse dead on, drawing blood and making the beast whinny out in pain. Luckily Leifr was able to keep his horse under control and prevent it from throwing him off despite the cut having been a somewhat bad one, but his horse was still raring and ready to go.

The crossbowman, in the meantime, did not like being in reach of both Fiore and Lyrisa, so he quickly moved back, but did so in a hurried manner instead of a guarded one to take more time, so he left himself open to a quick attack from both Lyrisa and Fiore.

---

Fiore Free Attack: 14 - 5 Free Attack - 3 Bloodied + 15 Talent Bonus + 1 Weapon + 2 Flanking = 25
Lyrisa Free Attack: 2 - 5 Free Attack + 2 Flanking + 8 Talent = 7

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Lyrisa's whip was way off the mark, easily being dodged by the crossbowman, but unfortunately for him dodging two attacks seemed a bit too much as Fiore's spontaneous attack struck him pretty deeply as he stepped back, a cry of pain escaping from him as he decided to fire now at the weakened Fiore, hoping to end his life with this crossbow bolt from a safe distance of twenty or so feet away. Luckily, Fiore was able to dodge out of the way of the deadly bolt quite easily as the man, who seemed a small bit bloodied now, seemed to be a bit off on his aim, which was good for Fiore as that bolt probably would have sent him to the ground and made him start bleeding out if he had gotten hit by it.

This battle was nearly over though. Both remaining bandits were quite bloodied and both of the ones on the ground were probably bleeding out or just unconscious if they weren't dead.