Seeing the wretched thing looking his way, at least for a fleeting moment, was a good thing as far as Rolan was concerned. It created openings, however brief, and true enough Ser Gerard took full advantage by turning the leverage into an impromptu stake, driven upwards with a seemingly unending well of strength to call upon in the face of the Gannek, no doubt an added bonus of their time spent preparing and training. All the more reason for him to continue honing himself, and that meant putting an end to this as soon as possible. The shadow was being driven back, ever so slightly, and it was enough for him. Something he had learned was that anyone could hide in the shadows, but it took a special kind of approach to hide in the light, something he was all too keen to take advantage of. Fortunately the staking motion would create such an opening, doubly so since it seemed no other member of their band was in a position to take advantage of it and finish opening the thing up.

Dame Yael was in no position to do so despite her best efforts, several legs of the Gannek quite stubbornly getting in the way of her deft hand finishing opening the thing up. He couldn't spare a glance, but given the continued lack of Ser Caulder, the blow had likely done a far greater number to his wits than his wellbeing. Rolan couldn't expect Ser Gerard to do all the work, which meant it was his turn to draw the things blood properly. Ducking in the right, he kept the torch between the thing's eyes and his own movements, a two fold approach. One to keep the darkness out of his way, and two, to keep its eyes and senses distracted from his precise movements, and it was finally time to put this sword to good use. A heavy, upwards slash aimed to strike right where Ser Caulder left off, and finish splitting the Gannek's guts out from throat to groin, and more importantly he was looking for any sign of the Aessyr that they were supposed to be freeing from the damned thing.

[color=lightblue]"Be ready to finish this on my word!"[/color] Rolan barked a brief warning to the others, eyes already scanning and straining to spot Aessyr in the mess of black ichor and spilling shadow. As much as part of his mind loathed the idea, the part that had been quite stubbornly ignored, he was ready to drop the sword and reach inside the thing to wrench the Aessyr out if it meant putting an end to this even just a bit quicker. He might have to replace his gloves after that if it came to pass, but that was a problem for the future. Right now, he focused solely on finishing gutting the thing in one last strike, free the Aessyr, and finally putting this damned Gannek to the torch.

[@HereComesTheSnow][@VitaVitaAR]