`It would appear as though the sighting of undead in this area was nothing more than rumour...` Abel thought to himself, considering the results of his current mission, `While this means I avoided wasting my inventory, it also means the job will only earn me the scouting fee; no hunting fee... Once I arrive in town I should inquire about more work... Evelyn, I will [i]not[/i] give up.` he internally reflected, nevertheless reinforcing his resolve despite the situation. Brushing aside his discontentment, his thoughts left him unbothered by the early morning temperature as they paled in comparison to the everyday dissatisfaction of his current circumstances -- ailments of the mind were always far more troubling than ailments of the body, at least for Abel. While his mind had been reflecting on the aftermath of his job, he was not entirely oblivious to his surroundings. Abel was a man who fought against the darkness - and the darkness would in turn often hunt him - thus the idea of an assailant striking at any moment was never entirely outside of his mind. While he was not immediately aware of the presence of the figure who was now attacking him, his guard was always up and ready for the possibility of a confrontation; fatiguing as such a mind state could be on the body. `An attack...!?` he thought to himself, using his right hand to slightly shift his shield in the direction that he thought he heard a noise coming from. Within an instant, the arrow had grazed his shield -- the act of shifting his guard allowed him to deflect the arrow. `Was his aim off...? This is clearly the work of an archer - human or not - but unless archery is not their specialty then this misaim suggests they are a fair distance from me; assuming they were not merely unlucky... I have time to prepare my defences before engaging them, but I would prefer to speak this out.` Abel contemplated internally, already considering a strategy in case hostility heightened. The fact that he was always on the alert due to fighting against inhuman forces meant that even if taken off guard he was never [i]entirely[/i] off guard -- he always carried his shield out as if prepared for combat, after all. "Who goes there...!? Name yourself, coward!" he called out. Abel had considered using his left hand to draw out his sword from the sheath concealed behind his shield, but decided to retain the element of surprise concerning the existence of his weapon. This enemy had attacked him without provocation and seemingly with a complete abandon of hesitation as well -- had Abel not heard some details about the presence of the Crimson Knights who walked this region, he may have assumed that the owner of this arrow was a brigand or someone possessed by evil forces. While both possibilities were still in his mind, he had recalled hearing about the Crimson Knights - and some of the more chaotic events plaguing this land - though only in small detail -- anything beyond the premise was a mystery to him, since his focus was and always would be on returning home. While he was likely the type who would stand up in arms of revolution against a tyrant, his priority was Evelyn and his order. Should the opponent initiate anything resembling a follow-up attack, Abel was reading to use his magic to take advantage of the distance. [center]~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~[/center] [@ELGainsborough]