Diana Jaeger

While Elizabeth and Loki walked down the yellow brick road, Honora concealed herself amongst the trees, and a man with a bow took aim, Diana was in the middle of finishing off a meal consisting of freshly cooked rabbit, stale bread, nuts and berries. The remnants of her tiny campfire had been stomped out and spread all over the place before she scurried up a tree with lots of foliage, her bow in tow. She was aware of the dangerous people that lurked in the forest and though she meant them absolutely no harm, she felt as if taking a chance on them not attacking them would be dumb. So, she climbed high up in her chosen tree, settling herself on one of the thicker branches before dining in. Besides needing some water to wash down the bread, her afternoon meal was delicious. However, she would not get to finish her meal.

She was probably half way down when she noticed the presence of a male figure directly below her hiding spot, his bow lowered and his eyes trained on whatever he was hunting. Not wanting to let her presence be known just in case she spooked the man, but noisy enough to want to see what he was looking to shoot, she quickly gathered up the remainder of her meal into the small piece of fabric, tying it neatly and stashing it on one of the smaller branches after she got up. Her meal secured, she quickly, and as quietly as possible, maneuvered herself around the trunk of the tree and onto the branch hanging slightly higher than the one she had just been on.

There wasn’t a deer or rabbit in sight for the man below to shoot, but there was three people. A green-haired woman, a blond man, and a dark-haired girl. The first two were paired together, the dark-haired girl hidden pretty well amongst the trees. If it hadn’t been for her vintage point, she probably would’ve missed her, but alas that wasn’t something she needed to worry about right now. The man and woman pair seemed unaware of the present danger and since they looked like a nice enough couple, she decided she would help them out.

She climbed further up, one branch to be exact before pulling out her bow and retrieving an arrow from the quiver strapped to her back. She hesitated for a second, the thought of taking a life always something that gave her pause, but with the man posed to shoot, she couldn’t lollygag. She quickly took aim, steadied herself, and released the arrow. It broke through the minimal foliage in its path, striking the man in the neck before he could fire off his own arrow. Instinctively, his hand flew to his neck and his eyes looked up in a panic. He probably had five seconds to see the one who took his life before hitting the forest floor with a loud thud.

She cringed, just a little bit, the body having hit the ground louder than she had expected. It alerted his buddies. How many, she did not know, but they headed for the duo which suddenly turned into a trio with swords in hand.

“Oopsie!”

She chirped as she tapped her head. Maybe she should’ve just jumped the man, probably would’ve been a lot quieter, but what done was done. Only thing she could do right now is help the trio out and with her spot in the trees that would be no problem.

[One T1 arrow used. Nineteen T1 arrows remain]

Elizabeth

As the duo continued on their task, they would make their way towards a wooded area. Elizabeth would groan at the site of woods. For one, she was a cowgirl, which meant she loved to bein wide opened areas. Two, trees didn't exactly work well with her gun skills. Trees meant multiple obstacles, which meant multiple blind spots and that was just a pain to deal with. Three, there was no telling what was in the woods! There could be crazy wild animals. There could be weird bugs or kidnappers! Wait, that was the whole point of what they were doing now. So of course, Elizabeth would sigh realizing that going into the wooded area was supposedly a good idea. Soon after, entering the woods the woman would grow quiet.

Being the kind of person she was, Elizabeth would constantly be turning her head at every little noise. It was places like this one that really made her paranoid and being a girl that scared easy wasn't any better for either of the two. However, Elizabeth's eyes would land on a butterfly and she would feel the need to stop and stare at it. The butterfly was perched on a very vibrant flower, so of course both things captured her childlike attention. Purple eyes couldn't help but stare. The woman had completely forgotten about Loki as she looked to the flower and then back to the butterfly and then back to the flower. After a moment, a loud thud could be heard coming from somewhere in front of her. Elizabeth would instinctively reach to her back, where her rifle was strapped to. Purple eyes would scan the area but she wouldn't see anything, until men started appearing from all around the duo.

Elizabeth would turn in the direction of Honora pulling her rifle off her back at pointing it straight towards her before lowering it, "What the hell, Princess?! How long have you been there?! You're gonna give someone a heart attack like that!" That's when a knife could been see flying straight past Elizabeth's face and sticking into the tree to her left. The marksman would quickly turn raising her rifle. She would aim for the man, who was about 5 meters away and still running straight at her. That's when a loud shot could be heard and the man would be clutching his chest. Purple eyes would stare hesitantly at the man, as he fell first to his knees and second to the ground face first. "We should talk about this... later," the green haired female would say, as she blinked and then looked to scan the area again. She could have sworn that she saw more men but now she only saw a few. That's when Elizabeth would feel a hand wrap around her right wrist. With Elizabeth's rifle being held in said hand as well, She would take the time to throw her left fist into the man's face. His large hand would release her as he groaned about his eye and held his face. Not wanting to waste another second, the ever so sweet woman would slam the butt end of her rifle into the side of the man's head. Elizabeth could only hope that she didn't just kill those two men.

Loki

Loki continued along the path heading towards the edge of the forest. Elizabeth was right behind him for the most part keeping up with him as the two hurriedly made their way over towards the forest. The tree line grew larger and larger as they got nearer to the forest. Loki had heard footsteps behind him as they were passing by the edge of  town. A quick glance behind him didn't reveal anything however and shrugged it off as him just hearing things. It didn't take too much time for the duo to make there way to the tree line itself. Loki's eyes twitched about, sliding back and forth, as he scanned the tree line for danger. He couldn't see any immediate threats but he didn't let his guard down. He knew that once they entered the forest they would be in real danger as it would be much easier for the enemy to lay a trap or conceal their presence. Loki had confidence in their a abilities but a surprise attack would mean big trouble for the two.

A soft 'thwap' reached Loki's ears followed by a faint whistle. It was a sound he hadn't heard often and couldn't quite place it to anything. Then after the whistle came a louder thud off to his side. His whole body appeared to swivel over towards the sound his right hand instinctively reaching for the blade mounted on the back of his waist. His hand reached the handle in a single moment and he pulled the blade out of its sheath and held it in front of him. He held the dagger so it's blade was sticking out horizontally from his forearm. Loki's eyes first fell upon the body of a man slung he'd over on the ground and half leaning against a tree. He was holding a bow and had a quiver of arrows on his back.  Another arrow, different from his own,  was sticking out from his chest. Not too far from his body was... Honora? Whathe was she doing out here? She must of been the one following us then... Probably saw us leave the Inn. Like usual Honora had brought her massive Halberd along with her... Wait. If she was using her Halberd and neither Loki or Elizabeth used a bow who shot the mystery man?

Loki used his free left hand to ready his second dagger, holding it in a similar fashion to the one in his right hand. He was about to scan the trees for the bowman when the sound of scuffling leaves filled his ears. Turning back he saw two men rushing towards them. They were no doubt friends with the man who had a bow an arrow pointed at then until he met his end. Besides the two Loki just spotted there were two more dangerously close to Elizabeth. He was about to help when her body flew into action, crashing a fist into ones nose and ringing the others bell with the butt of her rifle. Loki had time to take on the two in front of him which turned to into three in the seconds he had looked away. Loki sprung Ino action running towards his three assailants. What was previously a ten meter gap was reduced to roughly three feet. One of the guys carried a sword while the other two were unnarmed. Targeting the armed assailant he we leap at his attack ready block the sword away from his own body while dropping his own dagger on top of the man's collar bone. It all happened in one fluid motion, the sounds of Loki's blade colliding with another and the thumps of a bodit's colliding and crashing melted together. As they hit the floor Loki pulled his dagger out from the man's body, using his moment to roll forward and back on his feet. Not wasting any time he would lunge back towards the two who he had gone past just moments ago. They were still in the act of turning their bodies to face him when he propelled himself through the gap he created. His daggers extended out from each side sliced across the chest of both men maybe an inch or two deep. Blood now staining his blade and their shirts he retreated back to Elizabeth's side ready to face more threats of they were to come.

Diana Jaeger

Nobody knew where the arrow came from. That definitely worked in her favor since she had the element of surprise and she didn’t feel like leaving her vintage point in the trees. Diana could very well take out the nine hostiles that decided to engage the trio, but she decided against it. Too many arrows flying around would, without a doubt, give away her position and though none of the hostiles could do anything to her, the green-haired lady definitely could with her rifle. That and the chances of the trio getting hit with a stray arrow no matter how well she aimed was pretty high and she doubt they would want to converse with her if she hit one of them. So, she decided that she would watch for the most part and only intervene if the trio required the assistance.

For the most part, they seemed to be doing fine on their own. One had taken it upon herself to shoot one and head butt the other hostile that approached her. The sole man launched himself at three of the hostiles, taking them out swiftly before returning to the green-haired lady’s side. And the dark-haired girl had almost found herself the victim of a very sneaky hostile after she had killed one, though she quickly made up for that by downing another.

Diana, of course, took care of the hostile that had been creeping up behind the dark-haired girl, the arrow landing firmly in his backside. Rather or not he died right away was of no concern to her, but she was pretty sure they weren’t dead since she didn’t aim for vitals, for her attention was immediately shifted to the last hostile. On instinct alone, she withdrew the arrow from the quiver, nocked it, aimed, and fired within the span of ten seconds. With the last hostile’s back towards her, well all of their backs were towards her given where they emerged from, he would find himself sharing the same fate as his buddies.

With a majority of the hostiles dead, largely thanks to the trio, and two more with status unknown, Diana found herself eager to get down from the tree and introduce herself to the three killing machines. She had to stop herself from jumping out of her hiding place and running towards the trio with the biggest smile on her face for the battle wasn’t over. Though she had called these woods her home for the pass several days, Diana had been only vaguely aware of the amount of people who were also camped out in the woods. She had counted six, maybe ten people in total when she had first surveyed the area, but with the arrival of seven more people, her estimate was wrong without a doubt.

That or seven people had made their way into the forest and she hadn’t noticed at all. Either situation was bad and they needed to be dealt with - and something said apologizing wouldn’t be an option. She watched as they scattered, something she couldn’t fault them for seeing how they were outnumbered three to seven.

[2 T1 arrows fired. 17 T1 arrows remain]

Elizabeth

As the man stopped screaming, Purple eyes would watch him slowly fall on his face with a light thud as he hit the ground. Once he lay still, Elizabeth would state for a moment in what seemed like shock. The green haired cowgirl seemed to leave this world for a moment. Eyes stayed locked on the man in front of her, as the people around her continued to kill their prey. Elizabeth would slowly kneel down and hesitantly place two fingers on the man's neck. Just as slowly as she kneeled, the woman would stand, as the man Honora attacked would begin screaming. The woman's head would quickly turn in Honora's direction, as she ended the man's suffering. She would watch a as an arrow ended the life of another, Honora stabbed through one, and again another arrow pierced through a poor man's backside. It seemed to be over.

Elizabeth would look around at the multiple bodies that lay motionless across the forest floor. Her throat began to feel as if it were closing up on her. Her mind started to fill with panicked thoughts. Her body felt weak and shaky. However, the female would be quickly interrupted with the sound of more rustling and the sight of 7 more beings running towards them. Purple eyes looked around panicked and fell upon Honora making a break in one direction. With her, two men followed and the rest ran for the duo still standing. In that moment, Elizabeth decided to turn 180 degrees and run. She didn't know where she'd be going but she figured she knew what the small halberd swinging child was doing. As Elizabeth looked over her shoulder, she would see two men running for Loki and that's when she saw something that would stop her in her tracks. The green haired female would turn to watch as a man behind her mysteriously fell causing the other two to stop. He would growl loud in pain as one of the other's pulled an arrow out of the back of the poor man's leg. From where she was standing, Elizabeth would look up and finally capture site of the mysterious archer. When she looked back to the men, she could tell they saw her too. "I'd run if I were you bow girl!" Elizabeth would shout. The men would turn towards her enraged, as the man holding the bow shouted, "Don't just stand there, fools! After her!"

Her feet thudded loudly against the ground as she ran more. Behind her, Elizabeth could see one man getting closer and the other half limping. "These guys have to be tough." Elizabeth would swerve through a few trees and then, disappear behind one. The two men behind her would start walking slower but their breaths were loud, "Where'd ya go, girly? Don't be scared. We'll make sure you die quick. We don't like making girls suffer." The woman's face would hold a look of anger, as the men chasing her down seemed to downplay her. Sure she was a girl but she was a force to be reckoned with. Among the cluster of trees, the men would split up to search for the woman. Eventually, the limping man would make his way towards Elizabeth. She could her him wince as he walked. She could her the heavy thud of his foot as he quickly took pressure of his injured leg. So when he came close enough, the woman would swing her rifle around to hit the injured enemy in his uninjured leg. He would fall to the ground face first only to quickly roll over and stare down the barrel of Flynn. His eyes widened with fear and he wouldn't move. Elizabeth would quickly pull the trigger and look away. With that, the man was silenced with a hole straight through his head.

The woman had almost forgotten about the other man, until his fist slammed into her face. Elizabeth would stumble backwards while she held her hand over her mouth as she groaned in pain. She would remove her had to see blood staining it. However before she could do anything else, the cowgirl found herself pinned against a tree with a hand over her throat. Elizabeth would pull on the man's arm as he held her to the tree but she couldn't get a solid grip with the blood on her hand. So, Elizabeth with full force would do what she knew best to do when a man attacked her. She would bring her knee up to connect with the man's groin. At this point, he would yell in pain and ease up his grip on her throat giving her enough time to punch him in the stomach. The man would stumble backwards as he held both his injured parts. Elizabeth wouldn't let up as she grabbed his head and forced it into her knee all the while she still held her rifle in her right hand. The grunt would stumble around for a bit before finally collapsing onto his back. In a fit of anger and fear, Elizabeth would pull Flynn up and pull the trigger. This bullet would end going through the man's neck. No doubt he would bleed out soon. Elizabeth was simply glad he was unconcious. Purple eyes would scan the area as she tried to block out this whole turn of events. Then, she would begin wandering back towards the group hoping they were just finishing up, with her busted lip still bleeding. Although, Elizabeth didn't seem to notice anything.

(3 bullets used total. 17 bullets remaining.)

Loki

Loki was retreating back towards Elizabeth when he caught sight of Honora swinging her massive halberd into another man, her small fram couldn't swing it clean through so she had to finish the man with another blow as he laid on the ground in pain. It was a mercy killing but still something that was never easy to see. There were other targets over by Honora but an arrow would fly off from another direction and provide support. Then another arrow, and another. This mysterious archer had already helped them out so much and he didn't even know what he looked like. He almost went to go assist Honora but Elizabeth's voice grabbed his attention and soon after his ears were trying to take in the sounds of gunfire. A faint ringing lingering after the three shots were fired. Before her shots were fired she yelled off in another direction saying something about a bow girl. She must have seen their friendly neighborhood bow girl then. Loki caught a glimpse of what he thought could be her but the first thing he saw in her direction was a man chasing the trail she was leaving. Loki felt obligated to go help but the sound a of crunching leaves was fast approaching. He turned back to see another man well on his way to assaulting Loki. He was with a few feet and holding what was either a crude looking club or a somewhat large stick he had just picked up on his way over. In any case the man was swinging violently, Loki had little time to react mostly due to his own stupidity. He did all he could to match the man blow for blow, parrying the attacks slightly with each strike of his dagger. Of course this was the intended plan for the time being. Loki was intentionally deflecting the mans strikes just slightly away from his body giving the illusion that the man had him on the ropes while simultaneously waiting for an opening of his own to occur. Whether the man tuckered himself out first or gave an ample opening was a mystery, but one that was going to be solved rather quickly.

Skill Used:

Diana Jaeger

Crap. That was the thought that raced through the mind of Diana as multiple heads swiveled in her direction, their eyes seemingly piercing the foliage that had provided her cover only seconds ago. She had, unintentionally, given her position away with that last arrow, garnering attention from a few. She had only wished to help out the green-haired lady, but she should’ve stayed out of it. Perhaps her nerves weren’t as calm as she thought they were for though she aimed for the upper body, she only managed to hit his leg. At least she didn’t miss, but that was a small victory and it definitely wasn’t worth it.

She found herself frozen in panic, her body not responding to the flight or fight signal her mind was sending it. She could hardly think straight, her mind plagued by how stupid her action had been and the what ifs of the situation. She would’ve probably stayed that way to if not for the voice of the green-haired woman reaching her ears, her words suggesting that she run though her voice seemed to demand it. Diana snapped out of stupor and blinked several times, her mind becoming aware of the man approaching her. He was running and he looked to be quite murderous.

Fearing for her life, her mind decided on flight and her body kicked into gear. She secured her bow before she quickly leapt from her vintage point, her feet brushing the ground before she rolled to reduce any damage as well as get some distance on her side. She rolled once, maybe twice before springing on her feet and running in the direction they had come in. Diana didn’t look back, she didn’t need to for she knew she was being followed. Luckily for her, she was an agile person and so, she purposely led him through thick underbrush and fallen trees - leaping over the latter in one swift motion whilst her chaser was forced to climb over.

Unsurprisingly, she was able to create a large distance, but he wasn’t giving up. Diana couldn’t run forever, she was fully aware of that, and so she planned on running long enough to lose him temporarily. What she would do afterwards would depend on how much time she had before he was back on her tail, though she liked the idea of climbing into a tree and waiting for him to pass her before doubling back.

Fate seemed to agree with her for she didn’t end up tripping on some unexpected root or some other cliché thing that would’ve resulted in her tumbling onto the ground - something that would’ve definitely closed the gap. She had but a few precious seconds to scurry up the nearest climbable tree before her chaser caught up and she didn’t waste any time. She climbed like her life depended on it and higher than she had intended, the teen wanting to be as far away from the murderous man as possible.

She was just in time to for seconds later he exploded into the area, though he did not continue to run. Diana made herself small, pressing her back against the trunk of the tree, which was painful because of her bow, and wishing he would continue on his way. She’d like to not face him if at all possible, though something told her that willing him to leave would not work. She would be forced into a confrontation rather she liked it or not and she may as well take advantage of her position. She shuffled just a little bit, making enough space so that she could remove her bow from her back. She was doing her best to be as quiet as possible, but she may have to move and that would, without a doubt, draw his attention.

She took a deep breath as she crouched, removing an arrow from the quiver and nocked it. She aimed for him, still looking to avoid vitals despite the situation. His back was turned to her, or, well, it was before he startled her. She almost fell out of the tree for she had thought him unaware of her position. Bang. The familiar sound of a gun caused her to cringe, but she was not hit. He missed, thankfully, and had to reload. She took that opportunity to fire the already prepared arrow at him as a temporary distraction before scrambling down the tree. Sure, the ground wasn’t an ideal place, but being up in the tree made her an easy target and she didn’t want to get shot. At least, not today.

[Will end my fight next post.]

Elizabeth

Elizabeth seemed to begin walking at a quicker pace as she neared the sounds of rustling and stirring. As she came upon the noise, Elizabeth would conceal herself behind a tree and peak around. It seemed the woman had found Loki but not who she was looking for. The cowgirl would take a minutes to think. She had been chased by three people two of which looked much different than the one. The one had run off after the bow girl, which was somewhere further past where she was now. In order to get there, Elizabeth would have to get passed these guys. However, she doubted she could do it in any sort of easy, ninja-like fashion. She knew she would definitely be caught and she'd rather not be caught on accident by Loki. With her luck, he'd kill her quicker than she could scream. Maybe being caught could also help distract the other though. With that thought, Elizabeth would run out from behind her tree, "Doing a great job, Loki. Keep it up!" Elizabeth would giggle as she ran around the two with enough distance between so she wasn't in the middle of any problems. Then, off she went to find bow girl.

Elizabeth had run past the tree she believed bow girl to be in at the time of her departure. As she ran further, she would notice broken twigs and sticks that she doubted such a skilled huntress would make. Soon the green haired cowgirl would come upon the sounds of tumbling and a man's yelling. Then, everything seemed to become silent, until Elizabeth heard the sounds of rustling brush and grunts. Quickly but quietly, the woman would male her way behind another tree. However, this time when she peaked around she saw the man originally chasing her straddling the small bow girl. She would hear the girl struggling for breath. Slowly, the cowgirl's rifle would raise up. She was position in a place where she could easily shoot the top of the man's head. Of course, he hadn't noticed her because he was too busy staring down his prey as he strangled her to death. This angered the cowgirl. Instead of killing him without his notice. She would step on a twig cracking it. With that the man's head would raise and as soon as it did, a bullet would pierce through his eye and out the back of his head. He would stare at Elizabeth a moment blood pouring from his eye and slowly fall forward. Dead. That made 5 dead. Elizabeth had just killed 5 people in one day. The thought would finally begin to slowly dawn on the woman. Soon she would slowly slide down the tree into a sitting position. Her rifle sat in her lap as purple eyes stared at it. Everything seemed quiet as the pictures slowly began to pop up in her mind. By the last thought, Elizabeth was completely out of it.

Loki

Loki had found himself still engaged with the man from before. He was keeping up quite well for a man using a makeshift weapon that far outweighed his own. He must have had quite a large amount of pure physical strength. What Loki lacked in pure strength he made up for in speed and mental prowess. It was exactly because of this reason that Loki was ultimately going to come out the sole victor of this fight. Loki's daggers still clashed with the man club in a rapid fashion, both weapons not giving an inch. Loki was going to outpace the man though, he could see his chest start to heave in and out as he gasped for breath. He hadn't slowed down quite yet but soon he would and then Loki would make his strike. The flurry of deflections went on for another few seconds before Loki was giving his opportunity. The man tried to swing too hard and his swing carried him too far through the parried strike leaving him scrambling to regain his composure before Loki's strike could make it. Loki was going to further make the task of staying alive a challenge for him. Whilst he could simply follow up with a simple slash from a dagger it wouldn't be effect as a stab, which was an attack that Loki hadn't performed here yet and one that the man hadn't seen. This was all to catch him further off guard increasing Loki's chances for a solid hit and guarantee a lethal blow. With a slight flick of his wrist the dagger flipped around the back of his hand finding a position suitable for stabbing. Then he pushed off the ground with all his might, closing the small gap between the two quickly. Loki's dagger pressed against the man's chest until his skin finally popped under the pressure, the blade then sliding through the flesh of its target. The pain and likely the shock from the attack caused the man to lose balance and fall backwards, with Loki on top of him still holding the dagger in his chest. He let out a pained groan and his eyes widened with fear. Loki had missed his heart but the dagger made it into one of lungs he would choke to death soon. Loki had to be quick as he still needed some answers and he finally had a moment where he wasn't fighting for his life. He leaned his face down towards the mans and spoke softly so his voice wouldn't carry through the forest and alert others. Using his other hand he pressed a dagger up against the mans neck, just in case he decided to try something stupid.

"Where is Jeff? Tell me and I'll spare you're life."

The man opened his mouth to speak, his teeth already stained with blood, he would likely be coughing it up already if Loki's dagger hadn't remained in his chest. So far it was the only thing keeping his lungs from rapidly filling with blood.

"Alright please just. Don't kill me okay. Ah. They guy your looking for. He's in the stone tower with Diablo. Mhhhpph"

The man struggled to speak, groaning in pain quite regularly as he did so but at least he managed to tell Loki what needed to know. Unfortunately Loki couldn't save this man, and he doubted even a professional doctor could at this point. With a puncture lung and no equipment he was a goner. Loki cupped his hand firmly over the mans mouth to muffle his screams. The dagger he held up to the mans neck now pierced the flesh. A quick death was all he could give the man. The man's legs kicked a bit and a muffle scream could be heard underneath Loki's hand but it quickly died as Loki's dagger was removed from his neck and was chased after by a stream of blood. Loki waited until the man was dead before removing his hand and pulling his dagger free from the mans chest. He used the mans own shirt to clean his hand free of the spit and blood that had accumulated there before wiping off his daggers and standing back up. Behind him in the distance a bit he could make out three humanoid shapes. Not wanting to be a pessimist he made his way over towards them assuming it was his companions plus the archer from before. He was right of course, no band of thugs could take them down so easily. Not wanting to waste time he would start to explain the situation and the job to everybody even offering a cut to the new Archer for her assistance. Of course he was likely to receive and earful from Honora as well but they needed to be on their way. Once they were all prepared they were going to go save the shit out of this guy

Skill Used: