Enemies surrounded the mage in under a minute with a speed he well underestimated, keeping him on the floor and for the moment leaving him with a few seconds for preparing his next move, slightly disoriented as he was.

 It was clear the house had been well prepared. He had figured he was well prepared enough, but as his situation worsened and the hallway - thankfully with a sizable hole in the floor - became filled with new arrivals, he was thankful that he had prepared himself.

A loss here would damage any future attempts short of a combat group of mages, and that would be a very messy affair indeed. He would need to kill the sage quickly and have the Order mop up her cronies. All affiliations with such a corrupt master needed to be eliminated. And there was the artifact to account for.

He looked into the eyes of the lioness. While some would fear one such as who stood before him, his seniority in the Order allowed him many travel experiences, and while he had not met one exactly such as - her? -, he had enough travel behind him to know the difference between raw fear and healthy respect. That one such as her would serve a being as corrupt as the sage was a sad thought. Not waiting for the halfling to prepare an attack or the lioness to engage further, he prepared and released a hasty, but efficient spell to expel the air in his immediate area outwards, focusing towards the lioness and the doorway while pulling a tall fallen candlestick towards him and swiftly coming to his knees with the talisman in his other hand to prepare a much more effective counter.

He wasn't sure the limits of his enemies, and while being a Ritari of the Magi afforded him the discipline and skillset to take on magically attuned opponents, it wasn't part of his plan to fight the very house and a growing number of enemies, so far magically attuned.


[@The Harbinger of Ferocity][@Belwicket][@IcePezz][@Jon Y][@vietmyke][@Zero Hex]