At last, it seemed the team was working to push against the forces, however..
The forces were more misleading than any real tactic could ever be in a situation like this, and the disguise was perfect for the Skaven. As quickly as they had appeared they disappeared, the Assassins were nowhere to be find among their kin. The Stormvermin were immense and pushing back the dwarves slowly but surely as they engaged from all fronts ont eh crumbling line. The black-furred Skaven that had jumped the backline were nowhere in the chaos of it all to even the most well trained eye. But they were still present in their own misguiding holes of subterfuge.
The first to make their appearance was among the boldest and one of the most outwardly thinking assassins the Skaven had at their disposal. This fact was shown in the assassin's movement upon Ayse. Her flames were bellowing forth like waves over the battlefield for a time, however even such a move as that didn't detour this filthy rat. The assassin pulled a satchel from it's belt as it darted behind the mage and then chucked a handful of powder from inside the satchel towards the fire-wreathed Magi. The powder instantly swelled in the air and collided with the flames only to reveal the death of the ambitious heat. The flames diminished and fizzled as the powder seemed to smoke out the flames instantly in a window large enough that a Rat Ogre could traipse though but instead the assassin launched a trio of poisoned daggers at Ayse with relative ease and all the while the Skaven strafed to the mage's right side. He wielded a crude war-axe that was honed like a serrated butcher's knife, but it was lightweight and agile, the unique curvature of the handle made the axe a weapon to watch as it was spun and whipped about the Skaven's hand. This tactic would all but set her off-kilter and off-focus, her magic would be interrupted and her ability to react to the nature of it all would be slow. The Skaven was a brilliant combatant and was taking his opponent's weakness into accord with great benefit. Although this wasn't the only threat to Ayse, for the assassins were know for opening windows and where there is an open window a rat is sure to sneak in, this is where the numbers the Skaven held were always powerful, and the truth to the saying was proven as two Stormvermin Skaven warriors charged at Ayse with their armo strong and their halberds well aimed.
The second of the assassin's was more of an opportunistic skirmisher than an assassin, paired with his pair of devilish looking swords that curved ever so subtle across the fore-neck of the blade's edge and into a back-hook for disarming. This Skaven was an ideal duelist and while most would expect the nature of a duelist to seek another duelist, Skaven weren't so kind and honor-bound. This foul retch dove and glided beneath the shadows of his allies before finally reaching his target. The Rat all but licked his lips in anticipation as he ambushed the Elf, Fariha, from behind and instantly locked his left hook inside the lower arm of her bow. His leverage and surprise made it easy for him to begin prying the bow away from her, and her fight for it would have to be strong if she intended to keep her weapon, but as he tugged at the weapon he also thrusted thrice like a mice with his right sword towards her center mass. He was a skaven with a disgusting degree of finesse that was almost more unsettling than his smell. While he was a Skaven, he was by no means weak and she would never easily retrieve her bow, or avoid his attacks, at the same time due to her injured leg. She would have to make a dire choice of more injury or her primary weapon. She was surrounded by a flood of lesser Skaven kin and taken advantage of all at the same time, and time was something she was losing quick, she had to make her judgment call and soon.
The third of the assassins popped up only for a moment to unleash a rather pin-point arrow fro a bow retrieved off the field, the arrow's mark was odd however as it flew through the air and was planted at Sylvia's feet. The action wasn't a miss, rather the Skaven gave a chuckle after watching it land at her feet with a loud clank against the stone floor. The Skaven then became unseen as it seemed to vanish and disappeared, Sylvia would certainly need to keep her wits about her now as the Skaven assassin marked her for death and with her surrendering her armor she would be much more easily indisposed. It was mere seconds after the event and already she was met with an opponent as they war raged on around her, but it wasn't the assassin though for rather it was a trio of Stormvermin that were moving in to close the lapsing dwarven flanks. All this time Sylvia had been oblivious to the deaths of a handful of dwarves near her position and now she was faced with three heavily armored warrior Rats. They weren't clanrats, they weren't cannon fodder, and they weren't idiots because they immediately surrounded her and left no gaps for her to escape. The two in front of her taunting her with squeaks and chattering fangs while the one behind her gave off an ear-piercing skaven whistle before cat-calling her sarcastically. The first to her left wielded one of the many Halberds among their ranks, the one to her right hefted a large kite shield and began to wind up the weight of it's spiked flail, while the third behind her was boasting a pair of mighty war-axes that looked like they could fell a tree a piece with a single swipe. She was certainly in for a real fight, as the flail-wielding Skaven pushed into her front harder, he was winding up and emphasized the start up of an attack, but without her knowledge he feinted his attack and the Skaven with the Halberd jabbed his long weapon from behind and under the shield of it's frontline comrade to stab at Sylia, aiming for her chest with ease, she was given little wiggle room, should she back-step the long range weapon she would enter the chopping block of the skaven behind her, and side-stepping would leave her open to a million and one opportunities for the Skaven, she would need to be wise and careful less her choice to leave her armor behind become her death-bringing Achilles's heel.
The fourth and final black-furred assassin reared it drooling head, but not to the party or the dwarves. It chattered and snickered to a group of clan-rats and slinked behind them in their shadows as they rushed and sprinted their own demise against Marianne's Mantis. They numbered a dozen or more as they flung their bodies at the giant insect with careless nature. They were killed off easily but slowly to the lack of more arms, and this caused the Skaven to be able to swell around it's legs, their misshapen and crude weapons impacting it's exoskeleton and being swung at it's leg joints. All the while the fourth assassin was right under Marianne's nose and she never knew it, not until the stench was so bad she swore it was right behind her...
"Peekaboo! I was hiding!" The Skaven cried out in surprise to her before she could even turn to face her attacker. The Skaven assassin had slinked through it's brethern and then snaked it's way up the Mantis' body like a moving ladder with ease. The silent rat never even gave a hint of it's presence until his body odor gave him away to Marianne's olfactoy senses, however for someone like her it wasn't a trained reaction. This meant she was faced with a sheer ambush, her body and mind unready for this type of flanking and attack, it was an astounding feat for someone to pull off such a precise and unique ambush, and this deranged rat loved it! He cackled like a mouse with a cheese wheel before drawing his pair of deadly daggers. They gleamed with a thick and pugent poison that would surely lay waste to a petite gal like Marianne if they so much as brushed her with their edge. She would have to act insane to escape her even more demented pursuer. By the time she could turn, she would see that instantly the Skaven had launched both blades like a pair of scissors to cross against her neck. The Mantis, despite it's size, isn't a marvelous platform for combat and this was her own decision. She planted herself in one of the most awkward combat zones and the Skaven had a clear advantage with it's familiarity to uneven and odd combat floors. Their digit-grade legs give them superior support and balance, as well as their tails add to the balance, on uneven and interestingly mapped platforms. She would surely find herself either fighting back or surrendering to the ground beneath her and fleeing.. if she could make it past the swarm of Skaven under her.