"We could have spared him..."

Jazdia paid Evan and his opinion no heed. Swiftly she moved toward Athena and had her eyes scanning the entire mansion for potential ranged counterattacks from the enemy's primary forces. The blast indeed roused the rabbles from their sleep and they all prepared themselves to meet the intruders. When she counted their number however it was indeed unspectacular.

Jazdia rubbed her pocketwatch and brought it closer. "Veronica, I saw two enemy personnel in the basement. It seemed to be Stritzel's storage area. Once you pass the door on its north, you will find a corridor and stairs leading to the second facility."

She saw all the important individuals in the second bunker. Two thugs patrolled around the room that looked like a laboratory, the other was guarding the dungeon. In that dungeon, she found Cedar, another bear that somewhat looked familiar, and the red-haired woman wearing a white robe and eyeglasses.

Beyond that laboratory, sealed by a solid iron door, was another tunnel. It looked smaller than the bunker corridor but seemed like part of an underground complex rumored to be Stritzel's way to aid the rebels.

Jazdia could only catch a glimpse of an underground labyrinth before fatigue set in and forced her to shorten the range of her vision back to the inner courtyard. Behind its wall, five men that she had identified before has already gathered in a combat-ready position.

""Five more guards." Evan pointed at the inner wall towards the west."Attack them too?"

"Oh, don't worry, they will come to us."

Activating her eyes to scan the manor again, Jazdia saw two men standing outside Stritzel's room, while three others were stationed on the stairs leading to the second floor. They seemed to be listening to someone she could not see, and the movement of that entity was almost unobservable, like an abstract man-sized distortion in the air.

That entity stormed toward the front door and opened it.

Deactivating her eyes, Jazdia saw a man walking bravely through the ruined gate. He was tall and muscular, wearing polished mail, pauldrons, and graves that emphasized his imposing figure. His eyes glinted under his deep brows as he bent his gaze upon the intruder, and then to his men, who hurriedly sprung out to the open, leaving only two on his sides.

He took a long, deep suck on his cigar before tossing the stump down and having it squashed beneath his iron boots.

"So, Fredricus Lapdogs finally came to collect his due."

Stomping his partisan to the ground, a mass of pure energy gathered on his left hand, forming a shield made of concentrated light. The wind blew his cape and his handlebar mustache as he stared at his men darkly.

Jonas Delving, the patriarch of the Delving clan hadn't made his move, but his two bodyguards, with a simple gesture, sprung forward to follow their brethren, who was now rushing toward the group with weapons at hand.

The battle has begun. The opposition had made their moves. Three were on a hot pursuit toward Louise's position, and two others were rushing toward Jazdia.

Compared to their leader and his captains, those five seemed not very right in the mind. They rushed headlong like berserkers in a warpath, raising their swords and pike with no technique or finesse whatsoever. Nor did they seem to possess any sense of survival; Their armor were a mere gambeson and ordinary clothing, and When Jazdia raised her bow and was ready to shoot, they didn't change their course.

But they were crazily fast, and if the team didn't do something, they might find themselves overwhelmed by these guys.

Jazdia was the first to recognize the need to relocate. Taking her stance, she propelled herself backward and fired her arrow. It missed the charging thug and hit the captain behind it. The lack of power caused the arrow to bounce off harmlessly, only leaving a small dent in his breastplate.

This fight just numbered itself six against eight. That's not good. Additionally this will be Evan's first(?) encounter with an opposition that also boasts magical power. Equally not optimal... but maybe there is to learn from this.

One of Evan's closest wargs, who was supposed to be busy with burying dead bodies, leapt across Jazdia's entire team to target the leftmost bodyguard, intending to tackle him and/or bite whichever body part appeals to it and drag him away, either way isolating him from his mates.
Two more wargs run across the outer wall gate and intend to do the same at two random guards once they reach here. Shouldn't take that long with the speed of a warg.

As for Evan, he dissolves the two warstaves that have been in his hands the whole time, leaving air-light snow in the winds. Puts his hands in his longcoat's front pockets.
A circular shape forms itself in front of Evan. It eventually forms into a direct appearance copy of Jonas' magic shield, made instead with hardened ice. His partisan was copied too, and equally stomped at the ground.
He is a tad aware of the pride of humans, and how this could be considered a disrespect to their uniqueness. A direct challenge, even.
He's eager to fight this man. To learn how users of this little thing called "magic" actually fight.

While this happens, he allocates the rest of his ice-summoning limit to hinder enemies within his 15-meter range, by summoning heavy masses of ice enveloping their limbs and neck. This is only until Jonas makes another move to be copied.

---

An explosion. The first wave of guards appeared to have been ineffective in delaying the attacking party’s assault on the manor. In no time, they cleared the outer field and already breached the second gate. Solomon immediately halted his investigation as the disoriented man began to walk forward in earnest. Whatever the man was and what he was being affected by became the attacking party’s problem now. Solomon quickly retreated.

Solomon noticed whilst passing by the basement entrance again that it lacked any doors, and some dialog could be heard inside. He paused to eavesdrop. He wondered if the second explosion had drawn enough attention from those below to take action. As he peered down the basement entrance, he could see Veronica was already there, tentatively creeping down, but still aware of her surroundings.

Solomon’s shadowy figure emerged from the ground and slowly retook shape that was easily recognizable. No long completely silent, Solomon whispered his presence so Veronica would know it to be him. “I wasn’t able to get anything clear, but I can confirm that guard lives. He looks to have engaged Jazdia. We should be free to push further once the others arrive. I trust Jazdia and those who are with her to keep the above ground guards occupied.” he said softly. Then he ceased speaking further, listening to the two men further inside speaking, while at the same time waiting for the bears and Varya.

While Solomon was with the others infiltrating the basement bunkers, Athena was facing down a new wave of eight men. Five were odd in their movements, but just as aggressive if not more so than what Yvonne displayed. The others were a part of Jonas Delving detail. Athena knew he was involved and Veronica did mention that he was on the premises. Perhaps it was too optimistic to hope that his visit was merely that, and he wasn’t involved. Let alone hoping he had left.

“Ice guy.” Athena called, forgetting Evan’s name at the moment. The speed the odd brutes were charging at gave little time coordinate, “Protect the left.” Even before Athena called, it looked like Evan was already preparing his own counter attack. His wargs, or at least one of them, leapt forward and dashed after a bodyguard, while the ice mage himself crafted a shield mirroring Delving’s.

Athena put all of her focus on the two men that were moving towards Athena’s general direction. Athena saw that their path wasn’t directly at her, instead off to her side towards Jazdia’s position. The elven archer already started to reposition. To give her a better chance to evade the brutes, Athena moved to intercept. She ran as fast as she could to put herself between the altered guard and Jazdia. She held her shield up, her spear pointed forward, the tip burning in purple flames. If the guard would attempt to evade her block, she would lunge at the guard with her spear.

Varya Chandrar

After the bears lumbered over the wood wall, Varya ran up the wall, flipping at the top and running down the otherside. Once he touched the ground he again took of his shoes, it would be rude to wear them inside someone's house after all. Varya then slowly and silently walked across the grass until he reached Veronica. Hugging the wall next to her, Varya waited for further orders whilst he pressed his ear to the wall. It sounded like the assault team was facing more fierce resistance, though this also meant weakening the enemy's flanks.

As the infiltration team was getting ready to enter the basement, Lily gently cornered veronica before she could go further inside.

"Heya.. If'n dat red-haired ladeh be in dere, be carefuls-- She gots dis spell as knocked our brudder flat. Dun let her pop anuh spells off if'n ya cain... Dun wanna fin' muh brudder, onleh tuh joins 'im down 'ere, got it?"

"Leave da nice dead-lady alone Lil, She know what she doin' bett'r'n we's does! We jus' gots tuh has her back's all!"

"Righ'-- We gotcha ladeh!"

"...Smell TERRIBLE daown dere... Whoof."

All said and done, Yvonne let the body drops as she regulated her breathing. That's a nice warmup, but surely it couldn't be all?

Just as she finished the thought, the next wave arrived. Delving and his personal guards weren't really notable, all things considered she had seen enough of their ilk across her career. But the five unusual additions... they reminded her of Ragnar way too much for comfort. From the way they're underdressed to the insane head-on charges, well, it brought up some really annoying memories.

And they had the audacity to try round around her too! Not even Ragnar was that rude.

Lunging to the left, Yvonne sweep the bardiche low to clip the nearest berserker at the knees. From experience, fatal blows weren't as effective as maiming ones. They can still swing and take you down with them even when fully disemboweled, much like how a boar will plunge deeper into the spear in order to gore a hunter. But no amount of anger or willpower can compensate for a missing limb.

As the explosion destroyed some part of the gate. Louise deployed her shield again, stood firmly straight with stake that implanted on the ground. Attached her bayonet on her musket. Readied up her musket as she rested it at the top of the shield while leaning it for a good posture.

The battle has begun. The opposition had made their moves. Three were on a hot pursuit toward Louise's position, and two others were rushing toward Jazdia.

Lunging to the left, Yvonne sweep the bardiche low to clip the nearest berserker at the knees. From experience, fatal blows weren't as effective as maiming ones. They can still swing and take you down with them even when fully disemboweled, much like how a boar will plunge deeper into the spear in order to gore a hunter. But no amount of anger or willpower can compensate for a missing limb.

Soon, the small mercenary woman lunged the nearest berserker. Louise readied herself and focus on the two remaining berserkers that charging to towards her. A thunderous gun shot was created as she quick shot the nearest charging enemy. The bullet went straight to the neck of aggressive attacker, hopefully destroying nervous system.

For the countermeasure, she goes with a Close Quarter Combat with a bayonet on her musket, kiting the aggressive enemies with her long range melee. Flexing it with a skilled Spin Exhibition Drill to deflect melee attacks along with a well placed footwork.

The first warg rammed its almost invisible bulk toward the captain on the left, pushing him away from the group and pinning him to the ground. Its great maw opened, trying to score a bite on his face, but the captain quickly blocked it with his armored hand. Reacting just in time, he plunged his sword into the beast's neck, using the pushing movement to run it deeper. The seemingly mystical entity grwoled as it retreated back to gain some distance. The captain pushed himself away and brandished his sword, grunting frustratingly as he tried to get back on his feet.

The second and the third warg attempted to do the same to the two enraged thugs in front of the captain. Compared to what the first warg did, they seemed to fare better; with repeated strikes and adequate mass, they managed to stop their advance and pushed the thugs slightly to the left.

But somehow, they were unable to bring any of those guys down.

Their great jaws bit into their skin, but it won't go any deeper. They attacked again and tried to tear, twist, and rip, but the thug's body endured it. Along the ordeals, they seemed to be planted firmly on the ground, and no matter how persistent the yanking and bites and maulings, their body seemed to be unreasonably heavy and almost unflinching.
__
Athena had moved sideways and placed herself between Jazdia and the enemies who were now being halted by Evan's wargs. Shield ready and spears pointed.
__
Ignoring the shiny and obviously bigger target in front of her, Yvonne lunged sideways and swung her halberd to chop one of the thug's legs. The blow felled the enemy, but the recoil was so violent she felt her own bones trembling. Worse still, while it would take a while for the enemy to get up, his knee seemed to survive the strike; the blade only cut a portion of his flesh and bones, and then stopped halfway as if his leg were reinforced by something tremendously strong. Blood poured unnaturally from the wound before stopping, and crystalized into a substance that emits a faint red glow.

___
It was a small relief that Yvonne had intercepted one, but her situation was far from ideal still.

Despite the failure of the previous attempt and the lingering darkness making it harder to aim, Louise didn't seem to learn anything from that. Trying to not get distracted by everything that was happening beside her, Louise aimed at one of the thugs rushing toward her. Either out of desperation or panic, didn't matter if luck was on your side.

Fire

It hit the enemy right on his neck, and then a terrible shrill could be heard as he collapsed on his knee.

The last thug was still beelining toward her, and with guns unloaded, Louise made her stance. The thug trusted his spear, slow and unrefined even an amateur could dodge that and she did it. With flexibility and precise footwork, the squire spun and rammed her bayonet into the thug's stomach.

But it again, went shallow. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the thug she shot before.

Still kneeling, his hand tried to clutch the wound on his neck, which apparently shallow. The same glow of blood could be seen from the cavity, and he glared at the squire with immense hatred.

Meanwhile, the thug in front of her screamed. "DIE!", and he raised and retracted his polearm before making a quick jab on Loise's midsection. The strike was slow but unexpected it connected to her breastplate and jostled her backward.

Seeing how his friend got dragged away by a seemingly invisible force, the second captain rushed to aid first one. At the same time, nobody knew since when, the Delving Patriarch had already stood not far from Yvonne. He only grinned briefly at Evan's pathetic attempt to mimic his armament, but his attention now was fully at the Rosenving. Another noble, a formidable fighter. Old Jonas knew how to appreciate a good fight, even if chaos unfolded around him he wouldn't waste the opportunity to get one.

Some entertainment before he had them all killed.

Stomping his feet, Jonas thrust his partisan at Yvonne.

****

Jazdia prepared her magic arrow. Initially, it was intended to be shot at that swashbuckling Delving as a retort to his insult. But then she heard a thud on her right. This close meant someone had broken into their formation, and true to that, one of the berserkers had landed a blow on Louise. Luckily her armor did its job well.

Her crystal arrow gleamed with explosive enchantment, ready to be unleashed.

Concluding that eliminating the closest threat was not an option, Jazdia aimed at the then-kneeling thug, mentally ignoring the incongruity of how a human can survive a musket shot in the neck.

The arrow hit and swallowed him in a fiery blast. But what was revealed after the smoke settled was even more horrifying. The thug knelt again, with the result from the explosion apparent in his body. But from the ghastly wounds, his blood coagulated rapidly, replacing the missing chunk of flesh. Screamed in pain, his eyes glowed red, and they wept crimson tears.

Fully alerted, Jazdia knocked an arrow on her bow and activated her eyes. Whatever standing there now was no longer a human.

An ice partisan enters the view, shot at full speed towards the gilded old man's own partisan to block his attack towards Yvonne, as Evan runs and gets in range of all three of these... strange, incredibly heavy, immortal creatures that only look human, and have lined themselves up between Louise and Yvonne. He winces a little, smelling the charred flesh of one of them, fresh from surviving one of Jazdia's explosive attacks.
Evan begins to ensnare the three freaks' bodies starting from the knees, elbows and shoulders with dry ice to lock all the movement joints first, eventually encasing them all at the same time in 1m³ blocks of ice within a second, while pulling them away from Yvonne and the gilded old man. He will glance once at Louise, and say "Go." while gesturing towards Yvonne.
Evan will then watch Yvonne and the old man's inevitable tussle, while hardening the ice prisons of these three monsters to a material comparable to steel, at a rate of ⅓ft³ per second beginning from their skin.
A disappointment will linger, for that old man is less a mage, and more a mere fighter capable of magic.

The two wargs currently fighting each of their own immortal freaks change up their strategies, going for bites at the weapons to yank and disarm them, then tossing the weapons away and letting loose at the freaks' necks to decapitate them.
The third warg with a stabbed neck, fighting a seemingly normal human, now seeks to do a similar disarming, then a bite at the man's waist to toss him at his partner, the other normal human on the enemy side. After which, it will seek to debilitate their joints with any number of attacks while they're downed.

Maximum effort. Evan will take the brunt of all these minions, if that means the women are free to gang up on this old man who has snubbed him. This shall be his revenge to that.

Well... these things were definitely a bunch of mini-Ragnar. The corner of her eyes found how they had even less skill than the towering brute, but the sheer durability was the exact same kind of annoyance. Change of plans, she'll need to-

-Jonas, the old motherfucker, was here. It's like the old man took a few leisurly steps but suddenly went across the entire distance they're apart, culminating into a straightforward stab at her direction. The bardiche was stuck in whatever unnaturally hard bones and crystalline scab, the second it'll take to free it was a second she did not have.

Instinct took over, her body moving as thought the world demanded it as everything seemingly slowed. Pivot on one foot, the body follows, in a smooth sequence letting go of the weapon in favor of drawing her sword. Her off-hand near the tip, Yvonne pushed the flat of the blade against the incoming partisan to deflect it harmlessly to the side.

Then the adrenaline-driven lapse ended, the heat of the battle caught up with conscious thought. The pivot smoothly switched into leverage, a powerful step that sent her charging toward the Delving patriarch, attempting to enter into the range where the partisan would be more of a hindrance than a weapon. Dull amber burned within her eyes, feral rictus twisting her face into a violent mask.

She's getting into the zone.

Location: Basement entrance, Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.

---

Veronica waited for the rest of the infiltration team to gather... well, those she could see anyway. The bear sisters offered her a beaded bracelet, their wording implying it to be some sort of sight enchantment, but the vampire shook her head and handed it back. "There's no time for me to figure out how to use this properly. It's better off in your hands; I'll stick to what I'm familiar with." Besides, unknown magic could be finicky, and she had no idea if it might interact poorly with her darkvision.

The metal compass coming alive prompted her to pull it out again, nodding quietly at Jazdia's message. "Understood." She closed the compass and put it back in a hip pouch.

She took a quick headcount, nodding in acknowledgement of Varya and Solomon's presence, as one of the sister bears (she had trouble telling which until the other mentioned her name - Lily) warned her about the redheaded woman, now confirmed to likely be the same mage that captured Cedar. "I'll keep that in mind then," the vampire replied, her mind whirling. While she didn't carry any poisons on her unfortunately -something she'd perhaps be well served rectifying later, there were several less kind ways to disable a mage. Depending on the skill of the caster, of course. Her instinct would be to quite literally disarm the woman if given a chance, as she wasn't entire certain there was another way to safely restrain her. Though, that would probably kill her from blood loss regardless, so maybe she was best served going for a killshot instead. It's not like they couldn't take other prisoners, and sometimes, you just had to weigh risk against reward.

Veronica's gaze flicked to Solomon, who had finished reemerging from the shadows, nodding at his report. "So, quite possibly thralls, as I had distantly theorized. Or perhaps something else, though no other possibilities leap to mind... That sort of working doesn't seem like Delving's magic, however..." Her brow furrowing, the vampire's thoughts went down darker paths. "Perhaps it is the redheaded mage's doing?" Grimacing, Veronica let out a quiet sigh. "I hope some can be taken as prisoners. If they are merely victims in all this, it would leave a bad taste in my mouth to kill them unless absolutely necessary." She shook her head. "I suppose our backs are clear for the moment, so we'll leave it to the rest to handle themselves."

Glancing down at the basement below and hearing the echoing -and admittedly mildly humorous- conversion ringing out from somewhere within, she nodded. "On which note, I'd like us to take as many live prisoners as possible." It wasn't her usual modus operandi, but the presence of potential mind manipulation making unwilling participants of some of the guards cast things in a new light. Oh, she was sure it wasn't all -or even most- of them, but it never hurt to be sure. "As for the mage and the bear? We try not to fight the bear, but don't hesitate to put him down if he tries to fight us. The mage... As much as I'm sure picking her brains would be valuable to the King, we have a mission to prioritize."

"Alright..." If she was still alive, Veronica was certain her blood would be pumping with anticipation, as she reached back and unstrapped a blood-red scythe the size of a sickle, which was already starting to grow in her grasp. "Two guards at a door, directly ahead and to the left -the north. The basement is otherwise empty. Let's make this quick and quiet." Her gaze flicked over the group, whose capabilities she still didn't know too well aside from Solomon, as the scythe finished growing to its full massive size, the familiar weight of the head now swung up to rest on her shoulder. "I'll take point," she gestured, "and run across the room to draw both their eyes and fire -if they have any ranged weaponry. I'm going to circle around them, come at them from the east. With any luck, they will both be so occupied by me that they won't see any of you coming until it's too late to react."

Pausing, Veronica let them digest that for a moment, before adding, "This should take them down as swiftly and safely as possible, and it should be broadly applicable enough to work, no matter your skillsets." She nodded, smiling confidently in her ever-presently close-mouthed way. "I'm confident in my evasive abilities, so make the most of my distraction and don't worry about me."

Stepping down the basement steps, she paused at the corner, right before she would pass into sight of the guards and the doorway they were posted at. Crouching down, she adjusted her hold on her scythe, letting it trail behind her, placing one foot on the stairs as a brace, much like a track runner would a footstop at the start of a race. She shot a brief glance behind her at the rest of the team, giving them time to prepare, before launching herself forward explosively, sprinting low to the ground. With the proper leverage to hit nearly her top speed -without overworking her muscles- right out the gate, Veronica was a brown-cloaked flicker of brown, red and black, as she cleared 13 meters in a second, 26 in two and edging towards 40 in three, straight down the center of the storage room (or as near to it as she could manage). Her run was already beginning to turn ever so slightly northward in a circuitous movement, but her roundabout pace meant it would still be critical moments before she could fully close the distance. And for that time...

Her Sight bloomed, the near future spreading out before her, as she prepared to dodge or deflect anything that might come her way, her grip on her scythe shifting in her left hand to make sure it was both readily usable and -more importantly- intimidatingly visible, angling to catch the light of whatever torches might be present to really emphasize the presence of the glinting reaper's blade, doing her best to elicit as much attention and fearful focus from her targets as possible.

'Hey! Who's there?!"

The guards readied their weapons and walked slowly toward the lonely black figure with a scythe. At the same moment, another boom echoed from the distance, fully alerting them.

"You don't look like one of 'em Rascade blockheads! Who are you and what do you want? Are you Lady Widernia's messenger?"

The entire basement was properly lit, with many crates and barrels piled here and there. For one with keen smells, the pungent smell of herbs and chemicals was apparent, along with the smell of blood, a familiar smell of blood, coming from that door behind those guards.

The guard's friend joined the fray, but he appeared to be more relaxed.

"Damn girl you look fine. Would you put that thing down, please?"

Varya Chandrar

When Veronica walked around the corner, Varya brandished his butterfly swords and casted his spell of Invisibility on himself, shrouding him in a veil of illusion (Invisibility activated). Varya ran around the corner, using Veronica's presence as a distraction so that he could circle around and knock out one or both of the guards. However, to his surprise the guards did not attack immediately, though still on edge. He couldn't tell if the guards were dense or had a serious ace up their sleeves considering how unphased they were by Veronica brandishing a scythe. He elected to make the gamble that it was the former, hoping between Veronica and Solomon they could handle it while he snuck his way to the door in the bad. Deciding to take advantage of their seeming laxity, Varya switched gears and reduced his speed to a brisk space, careful not to step on any puddles, his footsteps silenced by his measured steps and masked by his magic. As he walked across the room, he nostrils were assaulted by the heavy stench of chemicals, and more disturbingly blood. This was not a good sign, he was hoping based on Jazdia and Veronica's findings that Cedar was still alive.

Thankfully Veronica's plan to distract the guards worked, albeit not in the way she had expected. The mooks had their attention focused on her, allowing Varya to sneak around and past them. Once Varya reached the door he sheathed his blades and took out his precious bar of soap. He began to lather up the door hedges in the cleansing substance in order to reduce the creaking of the door once it was opened. After this was done Varya would look through the keyhole of the door if it had one to see what was on the other side, otherwise he would place his long ear against the door to listen.

Louise let it go her musket to impaled the berserker and remain stuck as the buttstock stood up to the ground. With an assist of the chill man, she unsheathed her broadsword, grabbed with it by both of hands and made a quick heavy stroke at the back of the knee. Shifted back on the front as the berserker reacted, she then made posture to stab. Experimenting things how to kill this abomination, noticed with the glowing blood, she decided to get rid the part that pumps the blood. She thrusted straight to the heart, precise and not going deeply through the back of the berserker.

Follow up with a twisting and pulling the sword then a step back from the enemy. Louise has Slyphy on her back, she is prepared on other suffering berserker nearby for a sudden attack.

Varya Chandrar

Thankfully Veronica's plan to distract the guards worked, albeit not in the way she had expected. The mooks had their attention focused on her, allowing Varya to sneak around and past them. Once Varya reached the door he sheathed his blades and took out his precious bar of soap. He began to lather up the door hedges in the cleansing substance in order to reduce the creaking of the door once it was opened. After this was done Varya would look through the keyhole of the door if it had one to see what was on the other side, otherwise he would place his long ear against the door to listen.

For a secret base, the place didn't seem to have the tightest security. If Varya noticed, the door was unlocked and could be immediately opened if he wished so.
The corridor ahead was a set of stairs leading further into a deeper underground level. Multiple lanterns hung on its sides, ensuring sufficient lighting. On its other end there was a door made of metal bars There seemed to be no activity in the corridor behind that door, either the guards were someplace else or they deliberately didn't station someone there.

Location: Basement storage zone, Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.

---

Before she had even entered the basement, the pungent cocktail of scents wafting up from below had been assaulting and tantalizing her sense in equal measure. The full and varied scents of many herbs intermixed with the acrid stench of chemicals. And Veronica knew it was largely the influence of her vampiric instincts, but she couldn't help but feel revitalized by the scent of blood in the air, her cold, dead heart longing to beat with excitement and mouth longing to water. She felt her focus sharpening just breathing it in, her appetite rising at the temptation, and she became all the more keenly aware of the distant thunder of the guards' heartbeats, her gaze involuntarily drawing to the nigh-imperceptible pulse of their necks.

Yet even so, this much temptation was easily shoved aside with long practice, as voices unexpectedly met her ears.

Veronica expected many things going into this fight. She'd been prepared for the guards to not take the bait, but they'd bitten so hard it took her off guard. She'd been prepared for them to used ranged weaponry, but they instead resorted to approaching her in melee right away and even left their posts at the door entirely. She'd been expecting some level of magical or mundane complications in the form of personal skills or just good old fashioned wily minds, but neither guard seemed to overtly so much as suspect her presence was even malicious!

What she had not in any form expected to get was no fight at all!

Are these idiots actually propositioning me? Unbelievable.

Veronica would admit -at least to herself- that she was completely dumbfounded, and it took more effort than she'd like to stay composed in the face of such overt incompetence. Her pace nearly staggered, as she flashed her Sight again, thoughts flying, to simulate just a little extra time to think. This... wasn't according to plan. These guards couldn't be this foolish, could they? Yet, if they were...? Well, she knew all too well what they said about plans and the enemy.

And she was just as well-acquainted with adapting.

Veronica's entire body language shifted, flowing from a tense dead sprint to a half-stumble, as she feigned needing to catch her balance, allowing the weight of her scythe to swing past her to clumsily clank against a crate. Within her body, Veronica's heart began to beat at her insistence, as she let deep gasps become audible from her throat, shoulders hunching in a way that made her look just a little bit smaller. Her pace finally came to a full halt with her leaning against a crate, radiating alarm.

At the guards' words, she glanced over her shoulder, her new persona now full in place, as doe-like, half-lidded eyes met them. She deliberately fumbled with her scythe, feigning as if to lean on it for support like a cane, the large head braced against the floor, only to slip and let out an "eep", the weapon slipping from her grasp to clatter on the floor. "O-oh, y-yes, that's me, my Lady Widernia's humble servant!" she stammered, looking every bit the hapless, overworked sort. "I-I'm so sorry to barge in like this, but-" She paused to squirm and let out a whimper. "It's awful! I just got here, and someone's attacking the place!" she whined piteously, making sure to pitch her voice to cover up the sound of something her keen ears and nose could vaguely pick up being lathered on the door behind the guards. "I-I'm not much of a f-fighter, you see, e-even with this horribly cumbersome thing," she licked her pale lips, pouting them invitingly, "s-so I ran away, f-figured they'd be too busy fighting that big strong knight up there to chase me..."

Squirming in place, the pale girl finally reached up to draw back her hood shyly, velvety-red gloves tucking black locks behind one ear. A casual shrug now had part of her cloak hanging off her shoulder, exposing the red and black garb beneath. Veronica was all too aware of the way she went out of her way to make her "panicked" breaths heave her chest up and down most obviously, "accidentally" giving the guards an eyeful, as she strategically twisted her body such that her cloak fell a little further behind her, draping concealingly over the weapons still on her back, yet exposing more tight clothing and pale skin.

She watched, waited, allowing the guards to approach her without even a single speck of hostility written in her body language. Shoulders were hunched, one arm kept tucked under her ample chest to better emphasize it while clutching the opposite arm, and her eyes refused to mee the guards', constantly ducking away "shyly" and submissively.

"U-um, t-that is, I apologize again for startling you and interrupting your important work!" She ducked her head, hands rising to clasp together over her chest, as she gave them both a short, brief bow. "I-I'm pretty useless as a fighter, s-so I'm sure that scythe would be much better in s-stronger hands like yours while I'm speaking to Lady Widernia. D-do you think that would be alright?" Her tone was breathier now, letting hope intermix with desperation.

All the while, internally, the vampire's mind was coldly counting every step of the guards' unhindered approach, her Sight periodically flashing towards the near future to ensure this wasn't a ruse and that these fools weren't far more cunning snakes, just waiting for her to lower her guard in turn. Her positioning was subtly shifted all the while, her busy upper body covering for one foot sliding to rest right next to her prone scythe's center of balance. The base of the large head was slightly suspended from the ground by falling against the crate she presently leaned against, leaving space for her to slide her foot beneath it if she wished.

The conversation downstairs was... Incredulous.

Why was it none of the boys ever talked that way to THEM!? They could have a good time too, like any other girls! In fact, they could probably do it BETTER, given the increased flexibility a very long torso like theirs afforded. Find a human girl that can put her head so far between her knees that she could see their own tail-- It doesn't happen!

The two made stingy faces at each other, then silently resolved to smack the men's heads together (to knock some sense into them!) should they come up the stairs-- and more, if they decided to try "Escorting" miss Veronica to "Safety" deeper inside instead, then they would sneak up behind them and clonk them THEN!

They flexed their paws and stretched their arm muscles in anticipation of such occupational activities, waiting to see how the wind would blow.

"O-oh, y-yes, that's me, my Lady Widernia's humble servant! It's awful! I just got here, and someone's attacking the place! I-I'm not much of a f-fighter, you see, e-even with this horribly cumbersome thing,"

"Oh yes! Wonder where they came from." said the second guard, walking closer to Veronica and making a flexing gesture. "sorry for the ruckus, but all is well. Our leader is here. And you sweetheart got reliable lads like us guarding the doors... should come the inevitable."

He only stopped when his friend, the first and bigger guard, shushed him. Then he too turned to Veronica.

"Got a lot of explaining eh? Miss Widernia only told us to expect a courier to come to get her things." The guard looked at her suspiciously and kept his weapon gripped. While his friend walked slowly toward Veronica and leered like a thirsty animal.

There was an awkward silence until he continued with a less tense tone.

"But... as usual She never specified. So I guess you are enrolling for an assistant job too? I see no reason to hold you any longer then. Feel free to lay your weapon on one of those crates. Ain't nothing to be forgiven. The fight will end soon anyway. Hey Pintel! Stop making the lady uncomfortable!"