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Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

The entire place was a complete chaos, but Yvonne thrived in chaos. Rapidly adapting to the changing circumstances was the key to survival, and she had plenty experience in those. Pressing onto Delving was an option, but Kitty and Sparky got him mostly covered at the moment. Instead her attention switched to the ice wizard with terrible aim, and the enraged thing trying to rip his face off.

Within a heartbeat she was on to the berserker, a hand halfway through the blade in a half-sword stance. Recalling the sensation of hitting metal from the bardiche strike earlier... she'll need to go for the softest part.

Her internal strength welling to the limit, Yvonne struck it slightly behind the temple where the skull was the weakest. If that wasn't enough she'd pull back her right hand and punched it again at the rounded pommel, hammering it in as many times as it took until it break through and smash the brain. So what if its bones were as strong as steel? She's perfectly capable of crushing steel.

"We'll have a long talk when we're done here."

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

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.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

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.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Well... these things were definitely a bunch of mini-Ragnar. The corner of her eyes found how they had even less skill than the towering brute, but the sheer durability was the exact same kind of annoyance. Change of plans, she'll need to-

-Jonas, the old motherfucker, was here. It's like the old man took a few leisurly steps but suddenly went across the entire distance they're apart, culminating into a straightforward stab at her direction. The bardiche was stuck in whatever unnaturally hard bones and crystalline scab, the second it'll take to free it was a second she did not have.

Instinct took over, her body moving as thought the world demanded it as everything seemingly slowed. Pivot on one foot, the body follows, in a smooth sequence letting go of the weapon in favor of drawing her sword. Her off-hand near the tip, Yvonne pushed the flat of the blade against the incoming partisan to deflect it harmlessly to the side.

Then the adrenaline-driven lapse ended, the heat of the battle caught up with conscious thought. The pivot smoothly switched into leverage, a powerful step that sent her charging toward the Delving patriarch, attempting to enter into the range where the partisan would be more of a hindrance than a weapon. Dull amber burned within her eyes, feral rictus twisting her face into a violent mask.

She's getting into the zone.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

All said and done, Yvonne let the body drops as she regulated her breathing. That's a nice warmup, but surely it couldn't be all?

Just as she finished the thought, the next wave arrived. Delving and his personal guards weren't really notable, all things considered she had seen enough of their ilk across her career. But the five unusual additions... they reminded her of Ragnar way too much for comfort. From the way they're underdressed to the insane head-on charges, well, it brought up some really annoying memories.

And they had the audacity to try round around her too! Not even Ragnar was that rude.

Lunging to the left, Yvonne sweep the bardiche low to clip the nearest berserker at the knees. From experience, fatal blows weren't as effective as maiming ones. They can still swing and take you down with them even when fully disemboweled, much like how a boar will plunge deeper into the spear in order to gore a hunter. But no amount of anger or willpower can compensate for a missing limb.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

The distance wasn't ideal for maximum effect, but Yvonne had gotten to where she needed to be. Sparky's sniping even spared her the need to personally cut down the bastard, leaving only one aiming at her. Not great to get shot, but she had her own countermeasures to that.

As the man with an arrow in his neck gurgled, Yvonne slammed at him and carried him forward by his clothing with barely any lost momentum. Quite literally using a human shield, she rapidly approached before cleaving the last crossbowman with the frozen bardiche. It was light enough to be easily swung one-handed, but she tapped into a little extra strength just to be sure.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

Oh yeah, nice and flashy. A few of the defenders were taken down within the first few seconds, though the rest rallied rather quickly. And apparently combat-ready? One of them tossed their torch a surprising distance, just about enough to shed light on the group. And then they fired - they sleep with their crossbows strung up, apparently - real accurately, though thankfully not quite deadeye. Not wanting to miss the action Yvonne too sprung forth as she tapped into her inner strength, bounding a significant distance forward with every step.

Inhale, deep. Feel the spark of flame within. Grab at it, and... unleash.

"HAH! I'LL TEAR YOU LIMB FROM LIMB!"

The sound was almost physical, a terrorizing wave that grip at the heart and cloud the mind. Not the best effect at their distance, but should disrupt their reloading long enough for her to reach into melee. And once she do, well, it'll be time to keep her words and tear them limb from limb.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Right, before we go." Yvonne reached to her belt, fingering the shape on the flasks' rim before taking off a pair of them. She squinted at the infiltration team under the sparse moonlight, pondering... before handing over the stuff to Veronica. "Our bear's in a bad shape, isn't he? Use these if necessary. The one with rounded rim heal wounds quickly. The one with rope pattern numbs pain and allows someone to press on despite injuries."

The alchemist that made it calls it fleshknit draught and iron will tonic, but she ain't saying that out loud. Dumb as hell names. It's rather pretentiously inscribed on the flask anyway, if anyone's curious, because of course it was. That said, the effect was a real deal so she had no options but to accept the dumb names.

That left her with four. A pair of fleshknit and second wind, respectively. Hopefully she wouldn't need them, damned thing were expensive.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Yvonne." Said the mercenary back to the pale man. She had the travelling cloak on, but underneath she's dressed for war with her full set of equipment and the pale bardiche at hand. Not quite the most subtle weapon, but turned out the defense was even sloppier than she expected. What's the point of walls if there's no one to man it? This was beyond even skeleton crew, more like a single fingerbone crew. Three men with a sturdy tree limb as long as the wall was tall will bypass it within half a minute without anyone to stop them.

"Assault team get through the walls and start the killing as loud as we can, yeah? Simple enough." Simple plan was the best plan. There's no need to overcomplicate stuff. And Yvonne knew exactly how to be loud.

Sovereign's Will: The Edge of War [Looking for new players]

"Huh?" It was the pale man that asked the unusually philosophical question... or perhaps it was just curiosity. He certainly looked young enough to have no experience in the matter. But anyway, he was asking about bardiches? Yvonne barked out a harsh laugh, grinning at the unusual addition to their merry little murder troupe.

Where did Freddy pull out all these colorful individuals from?

"Ah, I didn't actually need to borrow one! It's just a reminder of the last encounter with our dear old Stritzel. But to answer your question, it's a type of poleaxe with long but narrow... blade?" Her words trailed into a moment of confusion as the man started shaping his ice, a pale bluish white construct dully reflecting the moonlight. It first took the shape of a standard poleaxe, but as she spoke the blade lengthened and narrowed accordingly. Huh, that's interesting. "Even longer, about twice as long as that. Without the speartip or back-blade. The bottom of the bearding connects back to the handle to facilitate better heft just by shifting the grip. Yeah, juuust like that."

Yvonne whistled as he passed the finished construct to her, the ice surprisingly... neutral. Much closer to room temperature than what she expected of a block of ice. The balance was different from regular polearm on account of the entire thing comprised of the same material, feeling more like a wooden weapon, but the edge was razor-sharp. As for the durability, she tapped into a small amount of her inner strength before trying to bend the pole.

No give at all. Interesting...

"Do you mind if I knock it around a bit?" She asked, the man shaking his head in acquiescence. Her grin wider, Yvonne knelt on the ground with the ice weapon before her as she took out her dagger and strike it at the flat of the axehead.

First, with the pointed end. A soft clink echoed before the daggerpoint scraped sideways, barely leaving any mark in the process. Flipping the weapon, she tried a pommel strike only to get a dull thunk for her trouble. Another whistled escaped as she stood back up, patting some dirt off her knee before sheathing the dagger back.

"Awesome! Wouldn't need to worry about replacement weapons with you around, yeah?" No one had introduced their strength and weakness, so it's a nice discovery to find out that one of the newcomers had a fun magic to play around. There's so many applications she could think of... "I'll be sure to make a good use of it tomorrow. Thanks, bud!"

All she got in reply was a mild nod before the man departed, but she chalked it to his personality being quiet. It certainly suited his appearance, as generalizing as it were. Still, she doubt Frosty would mind the opinion at all.

Moving a bit away, Yvonne spend a couple minutes getting used to the weapon's reach and weight before eventually getting ready to call it a day.