Biff, Chip and even the youngster, Kipper had stayed close throughout the start the fighting. It was a hectic affair, but a general pattern could be surmised: Biff would engage the enemy in front (usually an orc,) head-on. Chip look to stab them while Biff had their attention. Kipper would stand behind and make sure no goblins moved in to try to do to Biff what Chip was doing to the orcs.

It was working decently well.

On the whole, The Lions had started exemplary. Captain Zell, the Valhiem veterans, Biff and Thomas, and a surviving soldier from Dantuin, fallen city in the east, called Jordash... these four were pushing at the front, right in the thick of things, leading The Lions against the first siege tower's orcs and goblins. Everyone else was moving up behind, staying in formation, keeping flanks covered and conservatively stabbing at the enemy. When the ladders hit, many worked together to successfully kill the climbers as they came and kept their section of the wall clear.

Thomas fell after taking a brutal hit to his side, under his arm. He was dragged back into the safety of the crowd, coughing up blood and leaking profusely. Alive - thank the Quinity - but he was out of the battle for good, without doubt. Jordash, Biff and Captain Zell maintained the tip of the spear with courage and prowess, while the least experienced Lions (minus Kipper) helped get Thomas off the wall and to the foot of a mage-platform ladder, where they could call for a healer.

For those near the orc heavies, the fighting was fierce and relentless, with no end in sight. Chip was already breathing hard as he stepped in and out, his sword-arm burning with lactic acid as he did the same move over and over, looking for an opening to critically wound Biff's opponent so that Biff could finish the job quickly. There were few weak points in the orc's heavy armour, but Chip had come to learn that the neck and also under the arm was a sure bet for his sword to meet flesh. Chip's throat was sore from the constant shouting of vile insults that everyone was taking part in - something that kept the anger flowing and the fear at bay. Biff was amazing - skilled and disciplined, taking down enemy after enemy. Chip knew that his friend was strong, but seeing him here brought a new level of respect for the big guy who was usually pretty laid back and affable.

"Take that you twat!" Kipper shouted as he shuffled around and caught a goblin trying to sneak attack Biff. The young Lion's sword sliced deep on the forearm of the goblin who reeled back and screamed. Biff saw the wounded goblin and killed him outright.

"Nice one, Kipper!" Chip shouted, eyes darting around the chaotic scene as he stuck doggedly to his tactic.

Captain Zell was utterly astounding. Chip could barely see him, the swordsman had pushed so far into the enemy. But he could definitely hear him. Shouting, roaring and grunting, non-stop - his green cloak fluttering and black sword swishing everywhere as he cut down a record-number of orcs and goblins.

As the minutes wore on, The Lions began to take more casualties. Men, elves and dwarves who were fighting for the Witch Queen started to get a footing on the wall. Another siege tower had docked at the wall, not far from them, preventing the allied archers from supporting their plight. Chip didn't see any Lions get killed but he guessed that someone must've died. Ten-fifteen of their block had been ushered out of the fighting and down the wall for healing. Their was action all around them now. The intensity had ramped up.

...

From the original siege tower that the Lions were fighting, something huge was struggling to get out, crouch walking and using a hand on the roof to pull itself through. As it's head got clear, it finally appeared and rose to it's full commanding height. It looked every bit of seven feet tall. Every bit of it. Head to toe in full-plate, helmet n all. It's sword was fucking ridiculous, making a greatsword look like a skinny toothpick. Zell thought the gangplank was going to break under the weight of the bastard. The Englishman was pretty sure he heard the wood crack.

The enemy around Zell backed off to let this monstrosity into the fight. It was... an orc... Zell guessed. But maybe half-ogre? Or just a fucking mutant? An peripheral orc tried to get a free shot at Zell who was awaiting the first move from the monster. Zell managed to parry the attack and throw and few swings in return, pushing the orc onto it's backfoot. And then Zell's attention was taken by the monstoristy again, as it engaged Jordash Sigmar, a reliable soldier, the first clash of blades knocking Jordash's sword flying out of his hand and over the battlements.

"No-!"

Zell barely got his word out as Jordash took a grizzly downwards strike from the giant orc. The man from Dantuin who had survived not only the fall of the eastern city, but skirmish after skirmish to protect the refugees and get them to Valhiem... he was dead instantly.

"Kipper get back!" Biff shouted as he tentatively stepped to take the place of Jordash.

Zell stopped him, pulling him back by the shoulder, eyes on the monster the whole time. This would be his fight. Fighting slowed almost to a complete stop in the immediate area. Everyone around was still fighting but those who were on the very front of the contact between orc heavies and Lions, had pretty-much come to a halt, watching as the mutant orc and the captain of the Lions faced off.

The monster twitched and Zell exploded into action...............

"Ready!"

MacKensie held her hand high, checking behind her to make sure the mages were casting. She could feel the tension in her soldiers as they held their bow and arrows in position. And then her delay was rewarded as a great many bows in The Rabbits' hands started to glow again. J'ai vous!

"Fire!"

It sounded like a drum roll as everyone released. A wave of arrows slashed the wind apart, comet-tails of flames on every third arrow. Orcs and goblins dropped dead or were pushed stumbling backward into the siege tower from which they appeared. A fire started inside the top of the siege tower and enemies pushed past their injured bretheren and tripped over the dead bodies to get out. MacKensie wished she could have taken advantage with another volley, but the tops of ladders appeared on the battlements, right in front of The Rabbits.

"Swords!"

Upon sighting the first opponents to climb up and onto the walls, right in front of her, she was taken aback to see not orcs or goblins, not dark elves or skeletons, but humans. She faltered for a second as her mind played her an intrusive memory of back in the Temple of Hades when she'd slit the throat of that cultist. No slaying of a mere beast. Murder. Her eyes squeezed almost shut as she summoned every ounce of determination and will power she could muster to banish her reservations.

"Give them no rest!"

The Rabbits pushed up against the battlements and fought to keep the corrupted tribesmen off the wall. Many enemies cried out as they fell all the way the ground. Some died to the defenders' blades. Some fought back viciously and stayed alive long enough to see one of their own climb up behind them and help. There was no way to stop the slowly increasing number of enemies on the walls. And now there was barely a block that were free enough to provide ranged support. MacKensie had stepped into the third rank as to not be embroiled in melee combat. She held both loaded crossbows and placed bolts in the spaces between her fingers, then activated her Deadly Flurry - blue flames dancing from her shoulders to the tips of her fingers - and then, with a blur, she machine-gunned off eight bolts in less than two seconds. With god-speed she continued, left hand holstering her crossbow, reaching into her pouch for a fistful of bolts that she released into the air in front of her. Her right hand, holding her primary weapon, came sweeping across the air, side-on, catching each bolt in the firing mechanism and letting it fly in lightning-quick succession. The entire Deadly Flurry move had started and finished within four seconds, resulting in fourteen dead enemies, each dropping with a bolt between the eyes.

MacKensie caught movement in her peripheral vision and did a double-take to see three Dark Elven Screamers come jumping off the outside of the siege tower and right onto The Rabbits. Their screams were blood-curdling and their dual wielding style was ferocious. The Rabbits on the flank didn't stand a chance. As one of her soldiers fell, MacKensie fired a shot off at the Screamer in retribution, but the dark elven woman parried the bolt out of the air and looked right at the block Captain. The three Screamers cut right through the din of battle with high pitched warcries, inciting fear. MacKensie jumped onto the battlements and ran along towards the new threat, reloading her crossbow, killing an enemy dwarf with her dagger, then firing said-crossbow, close range, at a human to clear a way. One more tribesman needed felling before MacKensie could get close enough to the Screamers to jump off the battlements and into melee combat with one of them.

The frenchwoman quickly realised that she was outmatched.

The Screamers were fast. Even without any decent armour and a wave of arrows raining down on them, they still managed to reach the wall. They climbed the siege towers from the outside and jumped on the battlements. The closest archers didn't have time to react, the blades cut through the air, skin and flesh with swift movements.

"Archers, get back! Regroup on that end!" Fenna ordered. "Melee on the battlements."

As the archers moved back to the appointed location on the far right side of the wall, from which they could still fire at troops trying to approach the wall or those climbing on it, more soldiers came onto the battlements. Spearwielders positioned themselves between the Screamers, and others pouring in from the siege towers, and the archers to keep them safe. Swordwielders moved in to attack.
Two soldiers moved in against one Screamer, but the dual-wielding enemy was perfectly capable of dealing with two enemies at the same time and stabbed both of them.

"You three on her, you three take the second. Always make sure you are attacking with three." Fenna locked eyes with the third. "That one is for me."

With her spear ready, Fenna moved in as the soldiers around her stepped back and focussed on other enemies instead. The Screamer grinned with bloodlust in her eyes. One blade came down, Fenna blocked. The other came down, Fenna used the other end of her spear to block that too. For the first part of the fight, Fenna deflected any attack the Screamer made, who jumped around to try and get an opening. Fenna turned to move with her.

The sword came down, Fenna blocked and swung the spear around to hit the Screamer in the side with the shaft, hard enough to let her grunt and delay her next attack for a couple of seconds. Fenna used that opening to attack with the tip, but the Screamer was nimble and moved out of the way. With a series of quick thrusts, Fenna's aim was to keep the Screamer in the defence. The Screamer jumped up and aimed her blades at Fenna as she came down. Fenna activated the boots of light feet, pushed the spear down on the battlements and threw herself up. The air domain enchantment made her lighter and made it easier to jump. The blades of her opponent cut through air and the sudden miss made her stumble when the Screamer landed. Halfway through the jump, Fenna activated the second ability of her boots: heavy feet. The boots seemed as though they were made of stone and pulled Fenna to the ground, right on top of the Screamer who was turning to meet Fenna where she had projected Fenna would land.

They both fell to the ground. The Screamer let out her high-pitched scream as she tried to slash at Fenna with her sword, but with Fenna on top of her she couldn't put a lot of force in the swing and the blade scraped over Fenna's leather armour. Fenna grabbed her dagger and pushed it in her stomach.

The trees and roots Adam had created would help defeat any enemies, he had hoped, creating a barricade that would allow him to take on multiple foes at once.

Nope.

What he didn’t count on - really, couldn’t have expected - was the stone battle axe of Zacharius, destroying the majority of the defenses in one fell swoop. The rest were aimed straight at the Druid, attempting to cut him up into pieces. This was certainly no wolfman.

The red-eyed man didn’t have much time to think beyond what the heck is that? and this guy reminds me of- before he had to react. Somehow, miraculously, he was able to dodge the next two strikes. Narrowly, but successfully all the same.

The next? Not a chance. This new enemy had cornered Adam, and the American knew he was going to get hurt.

Not, however, without making this metal menace pay. So, as Zacharius slashed the adventurer’s stomach with his axe, the Druid slammed two trees into him like a pair of cymbals, then pushed him away from his bleeding self. This would inflict some damage upon him, and more importantly, give Adam a chance to prepare what was next. With one hand, he fired a natural energy beam at his opponent, and with the other he grew more trees to prepare for the inevitable counter-response.

Something (perhaps the significant pain of the first attack) had told the caster that the magical blast would not be enough to defeat this new foe. With that in mind, he had said something before launching his magical blast.

“Hello, Zigmund.”

He knew it was inaccurate, but maybe it would get this guy talking. Anything that would give the Michiganer even the slightest increased chance of victory would be worth it, and he intended to find and take whatever advantage he could get. It took all of Second Chance to defeat the water ninja, and now Adam had to fight one of them himself?

Yeah, any advantage would be great right about now.

The haunting sound of blades whistling through the air seemed to surround Alison as she retreated from the wolfman captain's onslaught.

"Dammit!" she thought to herself as she leaped back from another slash, "There goes our element of surprise! We'll have to fall back, draw them in deeper." After gaining sufficient space from her attacker, Alison called out to Kerensa, "Kerensa! Launch the signal, and fall back to the secondary position! Disengage!"

Kerensa had been doing far better at managing her pacing with the lieutenant, using the curve of her blade to hide its striking distance. Already, her opponent was missing fingers on one hand and sporting a deep, near-fatal slash under the same forearm. Tendons and sinew fluttered in the flames as he attempted to rabidly lash out in desperation, but Kerensa was a cold and skilled swordswoman. She fainted a thrust upward before, in the blink of an eye, flipping her blade in her hand to face the curve downward and in one swift motion, swung the blade around, from top to bottom, then up under the wolfman's sword arm. He had little time to react as the blade severed the arm clean from the body. He stared in disbelief for a moment, watching his arm drift through the air, as Kerensa rolled her grip again, taking his head in a clean follow-through swing.

It was at that moment, the rear guard flooded into the street from behind, rushing towards the pair. Kerensa pulled a short cylinder from her pouch, aimed upward, and pulled the fuse. A red then green flare shot upwards, and all around them, the surviving thieves disengaged via smoke bombs and flash grenades.

With this distraction in place, Alison broke off her fight with the Captain and attempted to lead him down a side street while Kerensa and the others drew away the rear guard down the main avenue. The wolves, relieved to be in the far more familiar position of hunters once more, gave chase to the group while the Captain, ever the seeker of the foreign Source users, chased after Alison with a small cadre, leaving the rest to hunt the survivors.

---

Alison dashed down the alley, a firm grimace on her face. She had not wanted to get separated, but in the confusion, here they were. As she ran she ducked down another narrow alley filled with trash and junk from the surrounding houses. Thinking fast, she ducked behind a ruined crate and threw up her hood and veil, letting the mystical cloak's ability activate. Light shimmered ever so slightly, then went still as she faded into the wall and rotting wood. She felt the familiar whispers in her ear again.

"Coming... closer... careful... may smell..." said the distant voice. She drew a long, four-sided roundel dagger and held her breath. She prayed that between the smell of garbage, the burning city, and the poor light of the alley, her cover would not be blown...

---

Captain Hrond barreled through the alley. What had happened? They were the ones meant to plunge fangs and claw into the backs of the unsuspecting Source users! They were the great hunting pack, who would fall all in their path! So what had happened?!

Hrond turned the corner and practically smashed a crate to splinters before abruptly stopping. He stared warily down the alley, ears flicking, eyes narrowing. No, rash anger was for the orcs, the mindless beasts, and the inexperienced fools in the army. He did not reach the rank of captain, nor form this pack through berserking rage. He readied his claw blades and crept forward. If that woman was going to ambush him, now would be the time. He gestured with his head to one of his pack members to take point. He wielded a hand axe and began creeping through the alley ahead of him.

He could sense that ever strange miasma of source that followed that one. That did bother him. And now it seemed to saturate this whole alleyway. Yet it was odd. They were now nearing the exit of the path, spilling into a plaza. Perhaps this cloud was a diversion? What a mess, being led like newborn pups by their noses. However, just as his pack member reached the exit, something stirred in the corner to his right...

"You fools...!"

---

Alison felt her blade scrape against the ribcage of the Captain as she plunged the dagger through his side, ramming the blade upwards, in quick succession, she yanked the blade back, then stabbed down between his shoulder blade, again, feeling the blade scrape against bone and bite into flesh. With a mighty howl and much to her surprise, the wolfman slammed his armored claw into her stomach. She felt the air leave her lungs as she was flung down the alley, crashing into the lead wolfman and throwing into the plaza. Alison clutched at her chest as she gasped for air. She felt her ribs to be broken. Yet, there was no time to recover, as the wolfman she had tumbled with leaped upon her, swinging the axe down. A warning loudly whispered in her ear, she caught the falling axe by the handle with her left hand, the impact sending a shiver through her left arm. With her right hand still holding the dagger, she drove it upwards under the muzzle of the wolfman.

Shoving the fresh corpse off herself, she rolled backward up onto her feet, just in time to see the Captain's bladed gauntlet stab into the ground where she had just. Standing up straight, he glared at her, blood oozing from the corner of his mouth, breath heavy and panting. His two other squad members came out of the alley behind him and formed up on his left and right, shortsword and claw weapon at the ready.

"Who are you?" the Captain said in a deep, growling tone. Alison's eyes widened in surprise. So they could talk...

"A data analyst," she responded between gasps of breath before dashing forward. She had to take the initiative in this fight, thought Alison, or she would be quickly overwhelmed. She made a play to strike low, seeking to knock the captain off balance while preparing to dive under his squadmate's strikes.

@xenon

Where was Adam going?

The thought kept repeating again and again as the man ran away from the platform, the explosion earlier! Was he directed or was he acting on his own? Did it matter? He had half expected that something like this would happen, backstabbing was one of the Marquis's favorite moves for a reason. But now with Adam going there... should he support him? Unbidden his hand went to the handle of the anchor before he tore it away.

No, not yet.

Instead, he refocused on the battle, Kass was holding but Zell was worrying, they hadn't managed to get the materials for the ritual again and the sword was obviously affecting him. It made him angry, now it would be harder to separate him from that fucking thing.

"Agh!"

He felt himself flinch as the man closest to him was downed in an instant, an arrow sticking from one of his eyes, still open in horror. The bile rose from his stomach but was pushed down thanks to the experience half of him possessed, distraction was death and he couldn't afford to lose more people.

Then it happened in an instant, some unseen point tipped and more towers made contact, melee units advanced and the fighting became furious. Now the lives of his friends were being targeted.

It was time.

Both hands went to the handle of the anchor with his holy symbol grasped tightly.

"I call to you Lord Undaya, Ruler of the seas and King of the ocean, bestow upon us your blessing, to be as cold and unwavering as you are in the deep below!"

Once, twice the anchor hit the platform, a simple tap but he could feel the ripples of faith, similar to throwing a rock in a lake. It was the third trap that saw his anchor striking the floor of the platform with considerable force, sending the generated ripples of faith towards each of his party members, he hadn't noticed it before but with the last days learning of Hacking some things started to make sense with context, now he could guess the party system ingrained in their Crystals was helping guide his Blessing towards his party members almost effortlessly.

He just hoped they received it in time.

His attention returned to the fighting, and his Light Beam joined the magic being thrown around, they were close to another tipping point, he could feel it.

Now they just had to resist.