[IC] Godless Ichor (Dark Fantasy/Action)

[CadenGallic]

Along the dirtt path, they came upon a fork in the road, one path going higher and the other going lower. The lower path had the river snaking along one side of it, next to the growing rocky bluff.
"I believe we should split up for the time being." Vane said to Eldarin. "I shall take this higher path."

[Eklispe]

Eldarin frowned. He wasn't terribly fond of this plan. He saw no real reason for them to split up, it would only make them more vulnerable in the case of them being attacked. Still, Vane seemed to want and Eldarin didn't feel like disputing it. After all, he should count himself lucky they'd come upon each other and been able to work together so far. To ask him to stay would be presumptuous. "Very well then, remember to call out if you run into any trouble." Eldarin said cheerfully and began moving along his own path.

[CadenGallic]

"Forgive me... I simply feel a pull toward this path. My Windloft instincts are guiding me. I shall see you soon, friend." Vane gave him a short farewell wave and left bia the higher path, leaving Eldaring with the lower.

As he continued down the dirt path, he found the valley area open up proper to him with long sloping rocky walls and a jagged path leading ahead to a small clearing. What was interesting about his immediate environment, was the walls themselves. Shields had been placed upon the walls, dug in by the looks of it, and left to remain there. The shields ranged in age, some rusted and old, some wooden, some leather, some metal. Some had small trinkets draped upon them and some had flowers resting before them. The shields stretched all the way down the valley, from top to bottom, silent memorials in this leading canyon.

[Eklispe]

Hm, what an odd place. It seemed as though it were some sort of memorial to fallen soilders. The air was mournful and quiet. Personally Eldarin found the place somewhat eerie and didn't intend on staying in it overly long. With this in mind as well of thoughts of meeting up with Vane again, Eldarin hurried onward.

[CadenGallic]

Down the sloping path, he could see a small clearing up ahead, a few piles of rubble that couldn't be natural stacked up, a twisted dead tree sitting in the middle of it all. The place was eerily still, without even the breeze to confirm there was some form of life around him.

[Eklispe]

Odd. Suspicious in fact. Perhaps someone had stacked up the rocks to form some sort of marking to find their way. Regardless Eldarin would investigate the rocks and the tree for anything really, thought he felt distinctivly wary of something, though perhaps that was just the paranoia of this place and the utter stillness.

[CadenGallic]

As Eldarin drew into the clearing, he hadn't been looking properly at his surroundings. Whilst he'd suspected something, he'd stepped on something. A tripwire. It snapped under his foot and from above, he could hear rocks shifting upon a nearby small shelf, coming down, toppling towards his head. The rocks were all at least larger than his head.

[Eklispe]

As soon as Eldarin felt the snap beneath his feet he was already moving. He couldn't be sure what was coming from where, but he knew that it couldn't come from the road behind him, so that was the direction he rolled. After nimbly springing to his feet Eldarin whirled and did a complete survey of the area to see if anything had been disturbed by the trap. It wouldn't surprise him if some foul beast had awoken or robbers were ready to spring from the rocks. As part of his survey he idly noted that those rocks would've doubtless broken several bones at best if he'd been unable to evade them. Fortunatly at this point Eldarin was more than used to the environment trying to kill him, as well as the things lurking in it.

[CadenGallic]

The rocks piled up as from the clearing, a collection of three individuals sprung out. Bandits, no doubt. The first was shouldering a large iron axe, the second was holding a bow and aiming for him. The third was fiddling with a sharp looking dagger.
"Damnit, didn't work. Oh well, we can do this the hard way too." the one with the axe snickered.

[Eklispe]

Shit. Where was Vane when you needed him? The one with the bow seemed the most problem-matic at the moment. However once he engaged the other two that bowman would have to be one hell of a shot to avoid hitting his friends. Unless of course he fired just hoping for hits, then that would be a problem. How to even the odds? Eldarin casually lowered his shield and dropped his sword to the ground, holding his hands out palm up to indicate defeat. Of course the hilt of his blade landed on his boot so he could kick it back up into his hands in mere moments "No need for that. Clearly you fine men have advantage of me and a farmer like me never was much of a fighter. Can't say I like the idea of bleeding out from an arrow shot though. Perhaps the gentlemen there with the axe would be willing to do me the favor of killing me with a single blow. A beheading would do." Eldarin said calmly, yet with a tone of dissapointed resignation. If they just gave him something to work with, anything at all, he might get out of this yet. If on the otherhand the two melee fighters slowly circled him while the archer took potshots, he would be- well far worse off to say the least.

[CadenGallic]

The bandits stood there dumbfounded for the moment... and then, they burst into raucous laughter.
"Hah! I seen eunuchs with more balls than this guy!" The axe wielder cackled, slapping a hand onto his forehead. The one with the bow lowered his aim for a moment and the one with the knife laughed with his comerades. The two with melee weapons chose to approach, deeming him no threat at this point.
"Just keep standing straight, slim, i'll make your head roll with one clean blow, swear to the gods." He grinned maliciously.

[Eklispe]

Eldarin nodded respectfully and waited, standing perfectly straight for the axe-man to swing. His timing would have to be impeccable for this to work. He began drawing the neccasary magic into his hands, making sure there were no visible signs of it. "Oh and from the front please. I couldn't bear the suspense of not knowing." Eldarin requested politely. Getting this right without being able to see the attack would make this much more difficult. Fortunatly they already believed him a coward so this shouldn't seem out of character. Eldarin reviewed his mental plan. Just a series of steps.

[CadenGallic]

"Hah! How the hell did you even GET here? Shouldn't you have been begging some wolf to bite off yer fuckin' head in the woods?" The axe man mocked, to the continued laughter of his fellows, bringing his axe off of his shoulder and holding it in both hands.
"Now just hold still and say hello to Kalen for me!" He took a wind up and made to swing right for his neck.

[Eklispe]

Eldarin nodded shamefully. Then as the axe come towards him he ducked forward at the last possible moment, kicking his hilt into his hand. Now with his sword in a back-handed grip Eldarin came forward and thrust it into the axeman's heart. It was all remarkably swift, but Eldarin wasn't finished. He rose his left shield holding hand and a jarring flash of light emitted from it, doubtlessly blinding anyone unfortunate enough to look at it.

[CadenGallic]

"The hell are y-" the axe man managed to say before a nasty sharp blade interrupted further speech and instead made him die near instantly with a perfect strike on his vitals. Seeing their comerade, and possibly leader, downed so quickly set the other two into a panic as they fumbled for their weapons before the light blinded them both, making them dazed.

[Eklispe]

Seamless. As the axeman fell to the ground Eldarin ripped the axe from his grasp with his own shield hand and hurled it at the one with the knife. Now he'd never had much experience with throwing weapons, so which end hit him would be more up to chance than anything else. Still it would hit him at somewhere between the torso and head at least and that was all the Eldarin needed. What was more important was him taking care of the bowmen before the two recovered, so Eldarin rushed forward to attack with a quick strike at the bowmen's neck. Not enough force to decpaite, but all he needed to do was cut an artery or the windpipe to take him out of the fight.

[CadenGallic]

The axe was a weighty weapon, not made for throwing. As such, the dagger bandit simply got smacked in the face by the handle, causing him to stagger. The bowman was not as fortunate, his throat beginning to bleed as he sank to his knees and grasped at the open wound. The dagger wielded recovered and swiftly leapt at Eldarin, dagger raised to strike at his stomach.

[Eklispe]

Not perfect, but still good. Eldarin turned, easily using his shield to ward off the blow from the dazed man. Then he proceeded to back away, keeping the dying bowman in sight, while making sure to keep the daggerman at a distance using the superior reach of his sword and beating the man back with his shield in the event he got too close. He would finish off the dagger man after he was sure that the bowman was dead or a deserving oppertunity presented itself with little risk to Eldarin. He had no intention of getting shot in the back by a dead man with an overdevloped sense of vengance and there would be no harm done in waiting it out.

[CadenGallic]

The bow man continued to hold his throat as his blood flowed between his fingers, before he finally slumped over in death. The dagger man saw him go down and quickly swiped an arrow from him, holding it like a second dagger before coming at him again, ducking low and attempting to flick his shield up and break his defence.

[Eklispe]

What an odd tactic. Still Eldarin was confident it would prove ineffective. In response to the man's charge Eldarin pivoted backwards and to the right, swinging his sword from his right hand horizontally at the man's midsection as he did so seemingly with the force of his pivot. The placement of the attack made it difficult to dodge, meaning that the target would probablly resort to a block. However neither the dagger nor the arrow would be able to edge to edge with a sword, meaning he would have to deflect. Eldarin however intended to stop the false blow as soon as it made contact and turn it into a sudden thrust.