---

Athena looked at the scene in front of her with some confusion. She was not expecting all of Evan’s wargs to intercept these, whatever these things were called. Still, she appreciated the help. Given their resilience, she might not have been able to hold them long if at all. While the wargs were occupying the abominations, Athena took a look behind her. Jazdia had repositioned, and had plenty of room to maneuver or flee depending on how the rest of the fight went. There was some distance between her and those who were originally charging at least. With how persistent the wargs were, it didn’t seem likely they would go down quite so easily.

Athena took the next opportunity to see how everyone else was faring. Delving had entered the battle, and was working down Yvonne. The two were locked in a sort of dance, Yvonne working well to keep the nobleman’s weapon’s lethal end away. As for the other abominable brutes, Evan seemed to be taking care of them, too. Between his wargs and his ice blocks, he was working hard to keep the battlefield on lock.

Athena jumped forward almost looking as though she would have fell on her face. Instead her form rapidly changed and just before she landed, Athena was gone and replaced with a cat. Quickly dashing through the grass across the dirt path, Athena circled Delving. Yvonne and Jonas were engaged in a battle, yet at the speed they were going, Athena would end up too slow, awaiting for the outcome of the bout before she could make a move.

Near the manor, Solomon watched as Veronica managed to charm the two guards by merely existing. Her attempt to intimidate them didn’t catch them in fear but infatuation. Veronica played them up quite well. Solomon watched in amusement. There was stark contrast between the noise the battle indicated and the demeanor of these watchmen. Solomon turned back to the others to see what they were going to do. The twins were just as baffled. At least he assumed they were given their stunned silence. Varya was gone. When that happened, Solomon couldn't say.

“Alright, I think this has gone on long enough.” said Solomon in a soft whisper. He reached into his cloak and removed a small pouch. He opened it and jumbled around some of the items inside. From within, Solomon retrieved a small bottle of clear liquid and a couple bits of cloth. He finagled a bit with the items before tucking the materials back under his cloak. Suddenly, his form became undefined, darkening to that of shadows. Almost like a snake his form flew into the wall, trailing into the shadows cast by torches.

The two guards were finishing there conversation as a black shadowy entity rose from the ground behind them. Perfectly silent, Solomon’s figure came to be once more. From under his cloak, two gloved hands reached forward gently holding a slightly damp cloth each. The harsh smell they emitted was masked by the chemicals already permeating the area. Solomon covered each of the two guard’s mouths and noses with the cloth. With their surprise by Solomon’s sudden appearance, he was able to hold them just long enough for the two men to fall unconscious and collapse. Solomon stashed the wads of cloth away below his cloak.

“They should be out for a couple hours.” said Solomon, “I fear what they might have said should the conversation be allowed to continue.”

Varya Chandrar

Varya slowly inched the door open and slid inside, closing the door behind him and dropping his invisibility and rubbing soap on the back of his ears. He carefully made his way down the nearby stairs that led to a corridor with metal bars at the end. Oh great, one of those doofuses must have the key. He made his way back up the stairs to the previous door. He eavesdropped on the lurid conversations of the guards, when all of a sudden there was silence. He slowly opened up the door and peeked out to see what had happened, when he noticed Solomon is now behind the guards attempting to smother them. Varya ran to Solomon and Veronica, drawing his swords and preparing to bonk the guards on the head with the hilts should they manage to escape the cloaked man's grasps.

From up the stairwell, the two sisters slowly descended on all fours, as in such spaces, the ceiling tended to get too close for comfort or ease of movement, where they stopped at the curve of the bottom only long enough to see Solomon incapacitate the guards.

"Well dayum--- We jus' along fer da ride ain't we?"
"..Uhd like tuh know wut he got in dat bottle..."

Lily looked at her sister a moment with her ears back, and a look of pure bewilderment, that gave way to those ears coming forward, and a dirty snicker.

"...Oh yeah?.. Wut ya gunna use it fer?" she asked with a lecherous tone.

It was then Rose's turn to have her ears get thrust back, and the look of bewilderment, followed by a furrowed brow and hands on her hips while seated on the floor.

"....Why ya gotta make Everuhthang so dirteh fer, Lil?"

They paused a moment, then both broke out into suppressed giggles, before turning their attention to Veronica.

"Regardless--- Sorry ma'am, but we gunna has tuh steal ya 'boyfriends' a bit--"
"--Such 'Chiv'l'rous gentlemen' would feel real 'put ou'' if'n dey didn' escort such Nice 'n proper ladehs as we is!"
The two giggled in a suppressed tone a second time, then did their best to stand up in the limited space, each grabbing one of the unconscious guards by the backs of their belts, slipped over an arm like the men were a shield, before making cute bows to each other, as if complimenting each other on their new wardrobe, or maybe over their 'dinner-dates'.

"Rose---"
"Lil---"

They smirked at Veronica mischeviously.
"Whut? Ai't nevah seen such charmin' ladies as us afore?"
"--We means, jus' look at us! Got da boys on our arms, jus' fallin' all ovah 'emselves!"

The stomp alerted the Rosenving Heir just in time, and either by pure instinct or keen timing she took advantage of that split-second delay to react; her main weapon was abandoned, and she drew her sword to intercept the incoming thrust and shoved it aside with its fuller.

With harm already out of the way, she swiftly lunged forward, dull amber burned within her eyes, feral rictus twisting her face into a violent mask as she led her sword to get through the old man Jonas' defense.

All of sudden, Yvonne felt the terrible sting and cold on her calf, and something landed behind her with a heavy thwack. The unexpected attack threw Yvonne off balance, allowing the opponent to retreat a step backward. Jonas Delving was not pleased with such interference he halted his combo and stared darkly at the petite noblewoman with a bleeding leg. A blue spear, a replica of his own, stood at an angle behind her.

He stood still, while most of his attention locked on Yvonne, he noticed a tiny silhouette of a cat advancing toward him.
__

The ice grew rapidly from the enraged thugs' ankles, forming imprisoning cubes that completely halted their advance.

On the other front, the wounded warg changed its strategy by striking the first captain's elbow. His sword dropped, and he downed again. It was at that moment the warg used its powerful jaw to twist and crush the captain's arm.

Just in time, the second captain came to aid and stabbed his pike at the shadowy animal's shoulder. The warg released its hold and retreated, dislodging the pike in the process, but the second captain's assault was not yet over, he thrust his pike again, hitting the now staggered warg on its neck this time, and like a nightmare, it suddenly disappeared.

The wargs were not the only ones that could attack coordinatedly. Seemingly ignoring the relentless bites and tackles, the enraged thugs moved closer to one another. When a warg attacked one of the thugs, his brethren quickly provided a counter-attack with his weapons. Some blows managed to land for every assault launched, yet the enraged remained unflinching, not even when the oversized wolves tried to chomp down their wrist in an attempt to disarm them.

The more injury they sustained, the more they looked like animated statues. Fumes started to vaporize above their heads, the wound glows even brighter as if their blood was made of the hellfire itself. Every bite and every mauling were rewarded not only by hardness but also by smoldering searing heat.

___

Three of the enraged thugs now stopped dead on their track, and seeing the opportunity, Louise let go of her musket and drew her broad sword. Swiftly, she pirouetted to cut the thug on the back of his knee, only to hear the violent clanging when her sword hit growing ice. The thug remained standing, his arms reached to block, but Louise did not lose her momentum, retreating a step, she then drove her sword precisely to the enraged's heart.

The feedback felt like she was stabbing a cluster of glasses. The enraged being let out a coarse scream, his hand clawed the air before it went limp. Not giving Louise ample time to examine the death of her enemy, or even to draw her sword back, the ice had encroached on the dead thug's chest and trapped her sword with it.

___

She had expected a few ways the next few seconds turn around. Perhaps it was a feint and old Delving will pull back and try to skewer her. He could try punch her away with the shield. Or use whatever flashing means he previously did to regain the distance. Heck, she even kept half an eye toward the berserkers just in case.

What she didn't expect was a heavy blow taking her right on the calf, fatally breaking her ongoing rhythm.

"GAH what the fuck-" She lost her footing for a moment, a vulnerable lul that could've gotten her skewered if the old man pressed his attack. She had thought that the bastard somehow managed to outplay her, but then he stepped back and glared with severe disapproval. It came as a surprise to him too, then. Yvonne risked a glance as she steadied on her good leg, finding the pale spear that nicked her rather bad.

...bad wasn't sufficient to describe it, honestly. It all but punched through flesh and part of the greaves, just a bit off and she'd probably need to reattach the whole limb. She certainly cant move her foot, the tendon connecting to it completely cut. Fucking great.

"Dead gods. If you cant shoot straight, dont shoot at all!" Still, what's done is done. Better worry about the next five minutes. In precarious balance Yvonne remained in place, sword forward and blazing amber eyes locked at the Delving patriarch. She needed a chance to apply the potion, but there's no guarantee her foe will give her the chance. If he break the flasks, then she's well and truly cooked.

Evan let out a sigh, seeing the enraged thugs fully encased in ice. After moving them closer to each other away from Yvonne and Jonas' side, he pondered on if it was time to start the hardening process to entomb them forever, seeing as there was no way to really kill them.

Or so he thought.

Louise did it.
Her sword was stuck in the ice, passing through the enraged thug's heart, and it's not beating. Blood has ceased to flow, too.
Evan reached for the sword inside the ice, and the ice around just the sword turned into snow, and he yanked the sword out of the corpse. A standard issue sword? It looks plain and functional.
Evan grabbed the sword by its blade and handed it to Louise. "... Good job."
He reached out and patted her head, a sign that someone else used to do this to Evan to compliment him when he did a good job, too.
At this point, Yvonne yelled something, but Evan was too far away to hear. He glanced, but nothing seemed amiss. Yvonne just stood there, valiant.

The two remaining wargs, their mouths half-melted, looked at each other. They had no way to crush these immortals' hearts, especially with their flesh hardening to this degree. They glanced at the two captains, fresh from killing their careless warg brethren. It was an easy choice.
They leapt off the two enraged thugs, and set their sights onto the two injured captains, intent to tear them apart into shreds.

Evan, in the midst of his short walk towards the second enraged thug encased in ice, and while creating a hardened-ice replica of Louise's sword, detected that one of his wargs disappeared. He glanced up. Nary a moon nor its light sufficient to resummon the warg. He'll have to try next night.
He refocused, melting part of the entombment of the second thug to expose the torso, and repeatedly stabbing it psychokinetically with the hardened replica sword until its heart stopped beating. Afterwards, he would do the same with the third thug until it too ceases to live.

Even after decades of experience in this line of work, Jazdia could not master the art of commanding the "irregulars".

Sure she could prattle a long detailed plan during a briefing, and everyone would then nod in agreement, but in a real-time battle, that capability diminished somewhat. She had her own reasoning for that; barking a command in the middle of combat can be distracting for those who were usually out for themselves. And God forbid her sternness could often make people feel antagonized. She would rather not risk it.

So, when something disastrous like someone miscalculating and ending up injuring their fellow teammates happened, Jazdia would rather remain focused on the immediate threat. Scolding could wait for later.

Her arrow radiates in a purple light.

For now, it seemed Jonas' attention remained focused on Yvonne, who was now pointing her sword at the old man himself. A weak stance, intended to distract the opponent while her other hand reached for a healing potion. Looking at how severe the damage to her tendon and the amount of blood spilled from it, imbibing one of those pots was indeed the wisest course of action. The question was, could Yvone get enough time to administer it?

The Delving Patriarch stood still. His mustache moved. What did he say to her? Jazdia could only guess. A deadly guess. And of course, she wouldn't take that chance.



Jonas Delving lowered his partisan. His eyes remained alert, and his attention divided. One for the incoming cat who was now running toward his side, two for the sleazy ice mage, and three, and most importantly for the brave woman in front of him.

"Go on, Rosenving. Take your medicine, or risk it. Your call."" He gloated. Though deep inside he wanted to praise her for that slick evading movement she did, he knew such appreciation would be premature at best. The fight was far from end, and he still had more tricks up his sleeve. He would see that the opponents would do the same.

He would get just that.

From the darkness, a violet trail of light whizzed toward him. Promptly, Jonas raised his energy shield and let the arrow penetrate halfway into the panel, entrapping the crystal arrow inside the solid manifestation of radiant energy and having its brilliance color utterly outshined by it. He had deliberately skipped the part where he should harden it, all to prove his point. That he could catch even the most unexpected attack, and he was superior in every way to them.

A smug smile bloomed on his face until he realized that this tiny crystal arrow was one of the few things his magic could not snuff out.

A pair of violet eyes glowed in the distance, and from that direction, he heard.

"Yona! Back off now!!"



Ignoring the enraged thugs, the wargs made a quick beeline toward the standing captain, who fruitlessly tried to stab one of them, only to be staggered by the other. Tired and outnumbered, the next tackle finally brought him down to his knee. One of the wargs quickly seized his arm to have him release his weapon, while the other swiftly sank its partially melted teeth into his neck.

The damaged maws didn't make quick work of ripping away the captain's throat. The wounded captain had to witness it all, listen to his partner scream and gurgle, see him gone into the darkness as they dragged him farther to rip him apart. Terrorized beyond measure, he helplessly ran back toward the inner courtyard.

When Evan tried to melt his own ice, he should have known that the process was accelerated beyond his calculation.

When he tried to stab the second semi-incased enraged, his psychokinetically-controlled sword could not penetrate the ribcage. It immediately lost its solidity in the first attempt and became dull and eventually shattered for the subsequent stabbings.

But... it wasn't all. With no magic instilled to keep the ice blocks frozen, they were left alone to combat the smoldering heat from the enraged's augmented body. The second enraged thug started to break free. What remained of his skin had boiled and melted away, revealing reddish and hardened muscle beneath. The third thug was still imprisoned, but his icy prison too was undergoing a similar process at an alarming rate.

Varya Chandrar

After seeing the guards go down, Varya sheathes his butterfly swords. "I came back because there are metal bars barring the way downstairs." He said in his usual monotone. He turned to the cloaked man. "Thank you." He rifled through the pockets of the incapacitated guards, finding a key on the bigger one. He then extended his hand to give the key to Veronica. Afterwards he gave a small bow to Veronica, placing his other hand on his chest. "Awaiting your command." Varya loved having someone to look up to for directions, for he was uncomfortable taking the initiative himself if it could be avoided. He usually found it easier to do whatever someone else said, especially when they were competent like the likes of Veronica.

Evan backed off as the heat the immortal bodies exhumed threatened to reach his body, poking tiny holes at the thin ice armor around his chest. At this moment he wore around five layers of it on areas where he's fully clothed, and only one layer on exposed skin like his hands and face.
He's fully unsuited to fight these thugs, it seems. Everything he creates will just melt. Not enough power to pierce the body.
Should he just refocus on that old man? Louise can handle these thugs.

The wargs' mouths were drenched in blood, and with their partially melted faces, they looked extremely horrifying. Perhaps this is merely their true nature, exposed.
As they recover a little from what measly mana the dead captain had, they turn around to see that the other captain wasn't there anymore. Instead in the distance was a bright purple wisp lodged in a golden glowing eggshell. They ran towards it but stopped mid-way, piwaiting for the purple beacon to explode from a safe distance.

Evan too walked, approaching the old man. He needn't run, lest he wanted to face the full force of what emerges from bright purple arrow tips. That shield... He had a few ideas on how to pierce it, and he rared to test them out. Even though his confidence towards his piercing power waned.
He had nothing left to do but try.

---

Athena laid low in the grass, watching what transpired. Athena didn’t see from where, but suddenly Yvonne was struck from behind, a pretty nasty hit by the looks on her face and the expletives that abruptly escaped her mouth. Even Jonas Delving reacted by taking several steps back. Athena was not sure of his maneuver, so she darted to the side. She did her best to keep her eyes on both Delving’s new position and Yvonne.

The wound Yvonne sustained seemed pretty bad. It went through he calf, and the amount of blood she was losing didn’t look any better. Evan was dealing with Louise and the frozen abominations, Jazdia was still at a safe distance. Or at least a safer distance than everyone else. With Delving seemingly unbothered by the turn of events, and Yvonne appearing otherwise crippled, it was not looking good. However, Athena’s ears perked up at the mention of medicine. She recalled giving something of a similar sort to Veronica, maybe she had more of those? How Delving knew about them, though. It didn’t matter, Athena needed to act now.

With as much speed as she could muster, Athena ran through the grass as directly towards Yvonne as she could, giving Delving a wide berth. As she approached, she slowed enough to rub herself against Yvonne’s leg. With whatever pain and adrenaline Yvonne was running off of, hopefully this would not cause the mad blade any more distress. If successful, Yvonne would get a strange mostly indescribable feeling, but otherwise would be true to herself. Then Athena was continue her run, circling back around.

“Drink it.” said Athena.

Athena jumped in front of Yvonne, transforming humanoid once again. Upon landing, She slid to a stop, with her shield forward. She ended up pretty close to Yvonne, just outside the length of her extended sword. Athena tightened her grip on the inside handle of her shield and firmly planted her feet. The grass at the base of the shield flattened as a white circle extended out from Athena’s tower shield outlining a roughly eight foot barrier centered on her position. With Jazdia’s arrow planted within the opposing magical barrier belonging to Delving, Athena’s counter bulwark would block the resulting explosion. It was close, but even as Yvonne would choose to jump back or brace herself, Athena's barrier withstood the enchanted arrow's power, protecting the swordswoman one way or another. Debris and smoke spread around Athena's bulwark unmoving. At least now Yvonne could administer her potion in relative safety.

Yvonne had some snappy replies, but then a few things happened at once. Delving caught an arrow glowing a particularly angry shade of amethyst, and she knew exactly what that could do. Then there's something furry brushing against her leg, the mercenary almost jumping out of her skin at the sudden intrusion before realizing the presence of a... cat.

What.

Nevertheless, the touch brought a wave of strange calm across her as the heat of the battle seemingly faded away. On top of that, the cat went and morphed into the figure of that spear-wielding woman from their team earlier. There's so many things to ask here, but the fight took priority. Questions can be saved for later.

Hobbling back on her left leg, she planted her sword on the ground with the injured one extended. She momentarily winced at the amount of blood pooling where she stood, the boot and greave completely covered in thick crimson. The flesh and muscles of the calf itself was near completely shorn, if the lighting was good she'd probably get to see the bone.

Every second was precious, so Yvonne tapped some strength boost to snap the leather straps and wrench the damaged greave off. Part of the pants followed, ripped asunder to fully expose the wound. At the last step she took the fleshknit flask, pausing a moment to recognize the shape, then wrenched off the silver cap to get at the content. With one hand she carefully held her savaged calf together, the pain blinding despite her tolerance, carefully pouring the content into the gash as steady as possible.

It stung like a motherfucker. Worse than getting hewn open in the first place. The process burned like molten metal was poured into the wound, spreading fire through her veins and nerves, alongside the disgusting squelching noise of flesh unnaturally mending and rebuilding itself. She stifled her scream through gritted teeth, the silver flask deforming under her grip as the last of the precious liquid left the vessel.

Abruptly, the pain ceased. Breathing heavily and drenched in sweat as if she had just ran ten miles without a break, Yvonne grasped her sword and propped herself up with the tremble of a newborn deer. And yet despite the swaying and lightheadedness, her eyes burned a malevolent crimson as she rejoined the ongoing battle.

"...should've killed me when you got the chance, old man."

Now she's pissed off.

Louise dodged Evan's headpat because it was unnecessary plus they are in middle of battle. She retrieved her sword from Evan, for that she thanked him. Watched chill man did his best to kill those thugs and then gave up later. She stripped some parts that hindered her agility and movement speed. Took off her helmet as her hair fell down straight. Unbraided and tied it into pony tail. Started to have a pupil less eyes as she stared on thugs, a murderous aura starting to show off from her. Was crafted during the harsh training from the woods. Greatly have an awareness, merciless and out speeding her foes.

She made a posture and accelerated with twenty-four miles per hour on the recovering thug from ice, out speed evasion the passing thug. Calculated well the stopping, used her cape for distraction and guarantee stab with a broadsword same pattern from the previous dead thug, pulling back her sword after.

Greatly anticipate the attackers with her current state.

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

---

There was a moment -just one- where Veronica inwardly tensed. The second guard was apparently more wily than his brazenly horny partner. Yet... in the end, it seemed her cover held. If only just, perhaps. Tucking her hair behind her ear and bowing again, makeing sure to give the two a proper eyeful of her cleavage with the angle, Veronica smiled shyly. "O-oh thank you, sir! Of course!" She simpered to the second guard, her expression lighting up with faux joy and relief. She very carefully avoided looking at the door that had opened behind the guards due to someone unseen, as she bent over to fumble for her scythe, again ensuring her two suckers got a decent glimpse of pale thighs and her backside.

She didn't react, as a looming shadow grew into solidity behind the two guards, shadowy limbs reaching out to manifest Solomon's gloved hands over their mouths. An offensively powerful chemical stench washed over her senses, and Veronica was both fascinated and mildly repelled by it, watching the two guards quickly go limp in her fellow undead's grasp with barely a struggle. "Fascinating..." she murmured in appreciation, watching the retreat of the cloth wads back into Solomon's robe, as the guards collapsed bonelessly. "Out for several hours, you say? Excellent. That was far easier than I was expecting, but we're not out of the woods yet. Still..." The vampire rolled her jaw in thought, taking hold of her scythe properly again and slinging it over one shoulder.

Her eyes snapped to the reappearance of Varya from the now open doorway, one brow rising. So, he was the invisible one and not the bears? Her gaze flicked to the slightly more distantly approaching bear sisters, as Varya quickly rummaged through the thugs' pockets. Interesting and useful. She would be sure to account for such an asset going forward. It was a nice feeling to have not one -but two- comrades with exceptional stealth capabilities.

Listened to Varya's brief report, Veronica chuffed quietly, receiving the key to the door below and his subservient address with a familiar squirming in her gut. Or, well, the imagined sensation of such. Even now, when it only made sense for her to take command in something she was particularly experienced with, she couldn't help but feel somewhat uncomfortable being addressed as a superior, especially amongst people who were equally deserving of respect. She'd have loved to shoot down that sort of talk, but for now... it was useful. "Thank you," she nodded, gripping the key, "your initiative is welcome. It seems the immediate path ahead is clear for now." She was tempted to scry the way ahead to double check, but she'd already done that recently. It was unlikely anything would have changed since and would be a waste of mana.

Of course, it was about this point that the bear sisters had finished arriving and were laying paws upon the haplessly unconscious guards. It took Veronica moment to comprehend exactly what they were doing, but once she did, an exhale of exasperation and reluctant amusement escaped her. Even so, as amusing as the concept of the bears lugging around their new captives in such a casually humiliating way was, practicality won out in Veronica's mind.

"As funny as that idea is," she chuckled, before her expression sobered, "we're best off leaving those two behind. Live prisoners preferred, remember? Bringing them into battle will just risk killing them for no gain, and there's no guarantee anyone else we fight will be so easily and harmlessly subdued." She nodded to Solomon. "As the good Doctor here claims, they'll be unconscious for a couple hours, plenty of time for us to have the luxury to not waste time securing them yet." She shook her head with an apologetic smile, eyeing the specific orientation the guards were held in. It almost raised a brow from her, as she somehow hadn't expected relatives of Cedar to go for something as ruthless as a meat shield. "Leave them be. If you'd like some form of protection, why not try some of the crate lids around here?" She gestured to the crates dotting the storage area. "And if those won't suffice? Well, there will surely be other 'Chivalrous gentlemen' to strap to your arms deeper in."

Glancing towards the door to the rest of the underground facility, she jerked her head leading and headed that way. "Now c'mon, enough goofing." With that said, Veronica set off quickly down the corridor Varya had scouted prior. As she had seen before in her scrying, the pathway to Cedar led soon down a flight of stairs and then a deeper corridor, at the end of which was a door with metal bars. Hurrying over to it, Veronica produced the key found by Varya and made to unlock the barrier, glancing back to do a habitual headcount of her team before proceeding further.

Once they caught up, she lowly murmured to them, "Same strategy as before, but this time I doubt we'll be as lucky as to get another set of idiots. We use the element of surprise to our full advantage. No hesitation, no quarter until the enemy is subdued. I'll take point, give them something to target." She eyed the blue-skinned elf. "Varya, I gather your magic includes some form of invisibility? Then I'm sure you won't have any trouble getting closer while the opposition is distracted." She glanced at Solomon and simply nodded with a smirk; she was sure the lich would find the best places to employ his skills without her help.

To the twins, finally, she added, "Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with your abilities, but I gather you're both mages of some stripe. I leave your utilization of them to your best judgement." She paused, an expression of concern crossing her features. "If you're not used to life and death battles, similarly to your brother, I can only further recommend that you stay careful and don't freeze. Beyond that, I'll trust your judgement. So... good luck..." She turned the key and opened the barred gate, expression hardening, as the scent of blood seemed to be stronger now than ever. "Let's save us a brother bear."

The sisters let out a deep, somber, and dejected sigh, as they set the men down with gentle thuds, propped up against one of the walls of the small antechamber.

(sigh)
"Wuteveh ya says ma'am..."
".. Seem a shame tuh let such... eager.. young fellas jus' sit it out 'dou."
"--'specially see'n as they COULDA gone wit US--"
"--An' at ain't nevah a dull moment!"

The two busied themselves looking at the indicated crate lids, and finding that-- true to their purpose, meant only for being secured to the top of a wooden crate with some iron nails-- they lacked any intrinsic means of being secured to an arm, or carried easily. However, due to their ephemeral nature for such an inglorious purpose, they were not the most well crafted, and there were subtle gaps between the boards that they were made from, suggesting that a lashing or fastener could be passed through, making them fit for service, if un-ideal.

Almost in unison, they paused their work, looked at each other cheekily, smiled broadly, then sauntered back over to the unconscious guards, where they began unfastening their belts amid perverted giggles.

"Well miss-- Ain't no part 'a havin' loose pants gunna hurt d'ese boys none!"
"--Mebbeh keep em' from runnin' off, if'n deys wakes up earleh!"

They looked at each other and giggled again, each finishing the belt removal from their selected 'victim' with a cheeky pull.

"dey gunna fall all ovah 'emselves --AG'IN!"
"dey gunna fall all ovah 'emselves --AG'IN!"

"--Jus' caint helps it!"
"--Jus' caint helps it!"

They returned to their crate lids, then fed the belt straps through the gaps in the boards, then buckled them tightly, creating the needed arm-holds that would render them serviceable, loaded them onto their respective dominant arms, then following behind, ready for action.

"When you's grows up likes we done did, ya learns tuh be ruhsourceful!"
"Ain't let NUTHIN goes tuh waste!"
"Righ' hard tuh leave em boy's 'ahind...."
"E'en if dey IS dumb as rocks!"

When the wargs stopped to wait for the impending explosion, the enrageds they attacked before managed to catch up. Hell-bent on continuing the previous onslaught, one of the two swung his sword haphazardly at the beast, while his partner, moved to the side to flank them.

Things weren't looking very good for Evan. His ice failed to kill the abomination on the first try, and he decided to give up.
And so, he walked, forward, like a moth distracted by a bright lantern. Despite all the sizzling and cracking around him, he strode, vision tunnelled solely on the gilded figure of Jonas Delving.

The second enraged finally broke free from his ice prison. Louise reacted but did not say anything to the young man in a coat. She was immediately occupied with tackling the sizzling threat. And so she performed a similar move set, repeating a similar mistake as well.

Spinning to cut down ligament, her already blunted sword met with hard crystal this time rather than ice, and when she recovered to stab the enraged thug's heart, her blunder was clear: The enemy was not immobilized as the first one, and now had free rein to block her thrust and grip her blade.

It was at that moment she heard an arrow whiz in the air. It punctured deep into the enraged's torso, but he did not die. The shot missed just a few centimeters away from his glowing heart.

Still locked in a battle to take back her own weapon, the shagreen on her sword's handle started to burn, and she could feel the heat searing her gloved hand. Meanwhile, in the distance, a faint glow could be seen as Jazdia channeled magic into her arrow again, ready to shoot.
____

Evan's ice finally reached its breaking point. The third enraged who were imprisoned after receiving an uprooting blow from Yvonne finally broke free. With his sword in front of him, he rearmed himself and dashed toward the pale man.
____

Jonas could not remember the last time someone shattered his light, but today it happened. Part of him knew it was a reward of his hubris, another half of himself remained in denial, insisting that the blow was delivered dishonorably.

His ears were still ringing when he heard a taunt.

"...should've killed me when you got the chance, old man."

"How despicable!" he said brusquely before spatting blood from his injured gum. His glowing shield cracked, but only temporarily for he immediately channeled more energy into repairing it anew. The Delving patriarch was quick to regain his footing. His eyes searched for the two violet rings in the distance, but he could not find them.

And so his gaze fell on the Rosenving Daughter again, who now stood behind another female shieldbearer.

Well... well, look at that. He chuckled, not because of the familiarity, but rather because of how inferior her shield looked compared to his own. A filthy impostor, doing a disservice to themselves.

The spearhead of his partisan glows with a faint light, and to demonstrate his point, he took a flash dash forward and rammed his partisan on the magical bulwark. The strike penetrated easily and battered the physical shield behind it with full force. And as his opponent was left staggered by the recoil, he swung his partisan sideways, tearing down the rest of the bulwark.

"Very well. I will slay you like a disgraced mutt you are."

An extremely hot glove made herself to dumped it into the ground. Recognized the arrow that pass by from her, Sylphy noticed Louise that Jazdia will shot an explode since the fairy memorized the elven woman proceeding before casting her arrow to blow up a target. She nodded on the fairy and fixated to the elven woman target. The squire charged into the thug with impressive, made annoyance with her kitting attacks and speed evasion, luring it to keep the thug exposed their back from the elf.

With the old man busying himself attacking Athena, Evan had time to explore an underrated force of nature. Gravity, as it assists and adds however much minuscule acceleration it can to the ice partizan now zooming in at least 50m/s towards the old man's head, from 15 meters high up.
If the old man manages to block it, he will be rewarded with unbridled perseverance, as the ice partizan will continue to repeatedly shoot itself towards the old man's head, in the fullest force it could muster. Even if it were stuck partially on the shield, it would still muster pulsed surges of force to dig itself further and further in.
As long as Evan is within range. 15 meters.

Speaking of Evan, he has just reached Yvonne's vicinity and bows his head. "Sorry... I await your receipt for the injury I caused..."
Seems he pieced it all together, witnessing the blood that was still on the ice partizan, the blood and torn clothes on Yvonne's leg area, and the notable lack of injury on the old man.
At this point he felt too guilty and distraught to notice the third enraged thug charging towards him, fresh off of its ice prison. Although, if the enraged thug's assumably heavy footsteps betray him, then Evan will grab one of the three warstaves on his back, turn it into a sharp shovel and ready up.

Distracted by the explosion, the second warg gets grazed by its shoulder and scooched away from its attacker. They were raring to assist against the old man, but they get flanked...
They had a plan. The left warg will tackle the flanking thug with its entire body weight and pin him down while mauling the chest area towards the heart, while the right warg hops at the back of the left warg and dashes towards the old man, intent to bite at him or his pesky shield and take away chunks of his mana.

It was supposed to be a simple task. Louise only needed to keep the thug locked and steer him so his back would face Jazdia's direction. However, to the elf's dismay, the squire picked the hardest method, and that was by letting go of her weapon and making a charge-and-retreat movement.

With a new weapon in hand, the enraged swung the sword by the edge and tried to bludgeon Louise with it. But the squire was quick to duck, stepped aside, and moved backward, more came and she evaded all.

Meanwhile, Jazdia watched their erratic dancing with frustration she had never experienced in a decade. What the hell was she doing? Anyone with half their brain would immediately understand that she needs a target that didn't move too much

Her fingers were already red from the bowstring's tension, and Louise wasted that precious window already. Jazdia shifted her attention back to the Delving again. There were so many things that happened at once there.

____

When the Delving patriarch pressed the attack to tear down the bulwark, he noticed the incoming danger coming from the top. He ceased his attack and raised his shield, hardening it as the spear propelled itself down. The ice spear bounced on the first attempt, but it persistently tried to pound the defense again, seeking any weak point. On the third attempt, Jonas lowered his shield a bit and timed his swing to swat the incoming spear with his glowing partisan. Severing whatever magical connection it had with its caster.

As the ice partisan landed some 30 meters away from him to the east, and before he could reposition his shield again, another purple arrow pierced him on his left stomach, punched through his polished mail like it was made of butter. The searing pain from the fresh wound stung him like never before, and it was the moment when Jonas almost lost his footing. His partisan was now a mere prop to keep his balance, and his shield lowered, presenting a perfect moment for his enemy to strike.

It was wise to not show your back to the enemy. When Evan was busy walking toward Yvonne, he was running. When Evan Noticed his heavy steps it was already too late. The third enraged closed the gap and slashed him on the back. His icy armor negated that reckless strike, but the enraged with his free hand grabbed him by the coat and prepared to wrestle him down.

The first warg tried to tackle, and this time it managed to pin down one of the enraged, but what was the use of their enemy was even more durable than before?
Yet that didn't discourage the beast from using its claw to try to rip open the enraged chest. And same as before it only managed to dig through skins and some flesh. The enraged grabbed the overpowering beast by its front leg and pulled it closer, and as its maw opened to retaliate, he stabbed his searing hand into the beast's throat.

The second warg managed to escape the flanking and was now on its way to attack the now-vulnerable Delving patriarch.

@Lewascan2
The room behind that bar looked more like an antechamber with one additional room to its right serving as a small barrack for Delving's hirelings. It has a large table in the middle with a lantern, some emptied tankards, and playing cards lying around on top. When Veronica opened the door, the door let out a rusty creaking when pushed in.

Luckily nobody was alerted. A very loud snoring could heard from the small barrack.

Beyond that room, they would find two corridors leading to two different places. The one to the right led to Stritzel's manor while the left led to the laboratory.

But suddenly they heard heavy footsteps coming from the right corridor. One of Delving Usuals addressed the guards stationed there and ordered them to gather at the manor.

"That's Lord Delving's order. Everyone is to be assembled in the Manor's Great room to await further instruction."

"Let's go then."

"Should we wake Oglef up?"

"Nah just let that lazy bum sleep. Let him deal with the quartermaster himself

Location: Underground complex, Stritzel's Estate, Western Kindeance.

---

Veronica shook her head slowly at the cheeky commentary of the bear sisters, as the acquired less floppy or fleshy shields, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the theft of the guards' belts. It's not like they were incorrect after all; such a simple theft could cause unusual amounts of trouble for the victim.

---

The vampire winced, as the barred gate opened with not exactly the preferred amount of silence. She'd sort of expected it, of course, as she had been mentally bracing herself for stealth to end here and a far more direct portion of the mission to begin. Even being prepared, however, didn't stop her from wanting to cringe at the noise. Thankfully, despite her concerns, it seemed the action didn't interrupt the roaring noise of someone sawing logs in another small adjacent room.

Veronica tensed further at the sound of heavy footsteps approaching from the tunnel leading to the manor, only for the following conversation to make her eyes widen in disbelieving elation. That was all the guards down here accounted for, wasn't it? They'd just left this place basically undefended! She said as much in a quick whisper. "I... this is excellent fortune! Unless something has changed since I scried it, I do believe they just left this level totally undefended... save for the mage and bear."

At the sound of retreating footsteps, she finally dared to slip into the antechamber, slitted crimson eyes flicking about warily, as she made a quiet beeline for the pathway to the laboratory. "Solomon, if you wouldn't mind utilizing that... powerful-smelling substance again to ensure the last guard's sleep is far deeper, that would be an excellent way to wrap this up cleanly. I was honestly expecting a fight, but let's not waste this chance to have complete surprise on our side."

With that said, Veronica slunk into the left passageway, her pace hurried but not outright running, making sure to muffle and silence her footfalls with practiced footwork. She carefully hugged the wall without actually touching it, her scythe slowly shrinking down to the size of a sickle to avoid the thin chance of it loudly jostling against the walls or floor in transit. She still kept it in hand, however, as her other hand withdrew a trio of throwing knives. She was slightly concerned about the potential of the other larger bear in the area ahead smelling their approach, but she mentally crossed her fingers that the powerful stench of blood and chemicals in the air would have muffled and overwhelmed his senses by being at the epicenter. If not? Well, she was expecting to have to go loud at this point anyway.