"Brothers and sisters! We stand here!" Olaf's voice rang out over the battle as he fired a heavy bolt into an Orc Shaman. The rider flew off his mount as the hog charged through the forest below. He racked the bowstring back and loaded another arrow. Explosions and chaos echoed around him as the small forces of their party were surrounded. The ambush in the tents had only partially succeeded, being flushed out by the waves of magic being thrown at them. It was becoming clear to him that it was all becoming too much for the raid. A woman next to him vaporized to ash as a lighting bolt zipped down from the sky and struck their position. They were going to die. Olaf gritted his teeth as he fired again, taking the mount out from under its rider and crushing it beneath its fat weight. He began loading another bolt when another magical explosion threw him from the tree, blowing it to splinters. Wood and debris dug into flesh as he was sent flying across the tree line and onto the ground. He roared with an anger and rage he never thought he had, practically ripping the axe from his belt and tearing off his camouflaged cloak as he staggered. A Dark Rider attempted to ride him down, but he dug into the air with surprising agility and slammed his heavy weight into the rider, smacking him off his cursed mount. Upon the ground, he quickly set upon him with the axe, dispaching the rider with a furious bloodlust. Looking up from his quarry, his head immediately snapped back as a mace caught him from another rider. An Orc Shaman followed up from behind and, leaping off his hog, staff held high to finish him. Olaf stared up into the canopy, vision blurry and hearing all but lost. His consciousness fading, he gripped the firepepper charge in his bag as the enemies swarmed about him. "I'm... sorry... Kerensa... I couldn't... save you... from your... dream..." was all Olaf could say. A series of flashes lit up the forest. [hr] Pete could feel the hair stand up on his neck as the creeping reality of the situation made its presence known. Around him, the thieves and freed slaves fought desperately but were getting cut down by magic and the undead alike. He parried the incoming stab of a Beastman's stab, quickly jabbing his punch dagger up under the armpit before finishing him off with a slash to the throat. It seemed their distraction was working too well, and with such an overwhelming response, they had no time to escape. He heard the pounding of hooves. Was it more Death Riders? No, far worse, the heavy armored and personal guard of the enemy general himself. Fell Knights road into the whirlwind, cutting down survivors and holdouts, trampling over the last stands of many. Yet, as his comrads fell left and right around him, Pete spied one last desperate opportunity. He saw the general not far behind him, trotting him, observing the slaughter with cool, uncaring eyes. [i]It was him. It was time. [/i] And for the first time in Pete's life, he muttered a prayer. "Oh Iris, may you protect thy children. Ares give me your strength. Iskara bless me with fortune. Diavian, free me from my fear..." He dropped down and began to move quickly, weaving through the battle like a wraith as he looped around to get behind the formation. "And Hades... make my pitiful fuckin life worth something." He finished as he ducked between burning tents and under carts before finally getting past the Fell Knights' formation. As the troops swept through, he saw the chance. A clear line to the general. Gripping his blade, he ran from his hiding place, running fast and low as he charged towards the man on horseback observing the battle. "And by the gods, let my blade strike true!" his mind roared as he leaped up. [@xenon] [hr] Her chest felt like it was on fire. Alison leaped from roof to roof as she tried to make her way through the city. Gripping her last flare, she stopped and fired it into the air before scanning the horizon. "Dammit, dammit, dammit, come on, come on you fucks..." she muttered nervously. She glanced down at the wound in her stomach and pulled her other hand away from it. It hurt, but the pain seemed to have faded into the background. In fact, despite it all, it felt as though her body had gotten lighter after defeating the captain. A strange euphoria had swept her, and her source crystal still gave off a deep, dark purple glow. But there was no time to make any sense of it. A flare shot up not but two hundred yards ahead of her. A relieved sigh came from her as she began making her way over to it. The small square below her was littered with butchered corpses. Piles of wolfman corpses and scattered thieves filled the place. At the center, on the ledge of a small fountain, sat a blood-covered Kerensa and a few surviving thieves. Alison jumped down and made her way over to them. They had taken more casualties than she'd hoped. Kerensa rose from her seat with a weary smile. "Alison, it's good to see you're still alive. Even better to see that your blessing has grown ever stronger. I take it the hunt went well then?" she said, her voice hinting at her exhaustion. Alison nodded. "This it? Any wounded?" She asked, hoping to get a different answer than what she already knew. "Yes... They were far too many. A whole other company. We were able to lead them here, where our final ambush finished them off. We did as you instructed. Continued to lead them ever deeper, fired from rooftops. But they were fierce and many. We hid our wounded in one of the safe houses a few blocks back." Kerensa responded sadly. As Kerensa finished, an explosion lit up the horizon. Alison smiled; it was the first good news of the night. "Seems Olaf and Pete are giving them hell. Come on, let's see if we can link up with the others and offer whatever support we have left." Alison said. Without a single word of protest, the others rose to their feet and began to organize again. [hr] "Come on! Move, move, move!" Alison yelled as they bounded over the rooftops. There were so many of them! Thousands of undead poured across the streets like an unstoppable flood. Some had even haphazardly scaled onto the roofs or poured out of the windows. She'd never seen anything like this in her life, and she knew their window of opportunity to escape was rapidly closing. As they leaped across one gap, one of the surviving thieves gave a yell as a skeletal hand grabbed his ankle and yanked him down. She had no time to consider the dying screams of the man as Alison continued to bound across the tile roofs alongside Kerensa. They leapt down onto the street and made a mad dash down the main road towards the island. They crossed the main bridge and collapsed inside the island fortress, breath heaving and gasping as they finally made it to safety. She looked over her squad. Four. That was it. Not including Pete and Olaf, there were only four left, including Kerensa, that had made it through the fighting. She shook her head and looked around to get her bearings before grabbing a soldier. "You, where is the commander of the defense?" Alison said, mustering up the most authoritative tone she could. The soldier glanced her up and down but was quickly cowed by her expression. "The command center is that way, but what-" She ignored him, jerking her head to Kerensa to follow before heading over to where the soldier had pointed. Entering, she found it was about as chaotic as she expected. Orders were being barked, and runners were dashing in and out. She spied James and felt slight relief to see the young guy had made it. She approached him with a wave. "Hey there, glad to see you made it. We can catch up later, but right now, I gotta find whoever's still commanding this defense. Need to report in and figure out what our next move is. I will say we bagged the bastard that was hunting you guys," Alison said with a tired grin. [@Teyao]