[center][h1][b]Dirty Bastard & Cultists[/b][/h1][/center] [@JerkChicken], [@13org], [@fetzen] [hr] The man saw how many cultists were running through despite his best efforts. He was busy fighting off some of flunkies when Tayla and some others rode up to the bell platform with the help of some magic. It was quite a sight, seeing the floor stretch up like it was elastic. It was also very very bad, as they circumvented his his attempt to keep them occupied. "Hey! Where are you going?" He yelled at them. He needed to go up and help the two. "Tex! You're up!" The woman shouted. All of a sudden this rag wearing man drank some wine and leaned against the wall. He went from shrimp to beefy as Tex launched himself at him. He found his gaze lingering on his bottle. If not good, at least it seemed to have some sort of kick to it. And something strong would be nice, especially after all his gourds have been drank dry. He'd dodge Tex's lunge, and then focus on a series of jabs with his bamboo staff. This would be interesting, he needed to figure out his magic's gimmick and beat him down before Týfurkh and Karina got worn down by the horde above. [hr] Smit cursed as he watched Tayla, leave him behind. What was she up to? Their target was right here! "What are you doing?! Go back Tex up!" He shouted to three other clan men, who wielded spears. "The rest of you, block off the exit so he can't escape." The two clans men nodded, running up to attack from behind. The others went to the exit. Smit grit his teeth, as he turned face the dirtied man fighting Tex. Tex dodged the first two jabs from the staff. The third he knocked to the side with his left hand. He threw a punch with his right fist. What sort of magic was the man using? Smit wondered. Hearing? Touch? Smell? Well, he would start with the basics. Smit pulled out his Untuning fork, and banged it against the wall. Wincing at it's unpleasant sound. The fork gave off a wail. It's pitch alternating from high to low. The sound lingered in the air, pounding at the ear drums of all who listened. [hr] The man saw the Cultist shouting orders. From what he could tell he seemed to have some sort of leadership position. However, he needed to take care of the spear wielders and this Tex fellow. "How about you let me have a sip and we'll be on even ground?" He said playfully to Tex.The man was too busy with the spears to really have a chance to dodge against his fist. He called upon his power to harden himself against the strike. Surely it was better than getting skewered right? Unsurprisingly, the blow had quite a bit of force and he found himself walking back while using the staff to block the spear strikes. His urge to beat Tex and the flunkies only grew when Smit was bringing out his toys. The untuning fork was just noise simple as that, but he was aware by process of elimination he'd cancel out his power. Sure, he could still fight, but having some fancy tricks would sure be useful in this crowded environment. The man began to weave his counterattack, the spear lackeys were just there to keep him distracted while Tex actually did the damage. He took advantage of the staff's flexibility and their over reliance on thrusting to control their movements with well placed strikes. Smit would find himself rather crowded as his lackeys moved their fight closer to him. One of Tex's punches would miss and come uncomfortably close to Smit. "Sorry!" The vagrant warrior would say in mock apology. He'd then take advantage of one of the spear user's formation breaking up a bit from the others to try and trip him with his a sweep and give him some good whacks. He needed to dispatch of one of them and get to Tex, and snatch that wineskin too. [hr] Smit dodged out of the way of Tex's punch. Raising an eye brow at the dirtied man's snide apology. The fight was getting too close, they needed to regroup. His ears still pounded from the wail of the fork. The sound still lingered, but gradually getting softer. The dirtied man tripped one of the spear men and gave him a few wacks. The man groaned on the ground. Bringing armor would have been a good idea. Smit noted. He whistled twice. Two of the woman by the door joined the fight. One with a quarterstaff of her own. The other, a sword. He reached into one of his bags, and pulled out a handful of dust sand. "Dusters!" He shouted. A warning to his comrades about the sand he was about to throw. Smit threw the sand out around him. The sand spread through the room, much like a gas. It floated in the air like dust. Smit's eye grew watery. His vision blurry. He stepped back from the stairs, away from the fight. "Tex," Smit shouted. "punches aren't working. Go defensive instead." Tex nodded and touched the stone wall again. The man's muscles deflated. His skin thickened and hardened. Tex dove to the side, snatching up the down man's spear. Smit grit his teeth. Would this be enough? He looked up towards the stairs. He wanted to follow after Tayla. But Sightless Syella wouldn't be happy if they fail. She especially wouldn't be happy with Tayla in particular. [hr] The man noticed these extra interlopers joining the fight after being summoned with the whistle. He feeling constrained by time as really needed to deal with these people and get upstairs to help before it got rough for them. With no idea of the situation above there was only a sense of creeping urgency and a general idea that the more time passed the worse it could get. It was mildly annoying as if they were together or if he had a better idea of what was going on, he could fight them in a more leisurely manner. "This guy, really doesn't want to fight directly does he?" He thought to himself. Smit did yet another move to try and block magic. This time it was against sight as he threw dust sand at the ground. He stifled the urge to cough as the mildly unpleasant musty smell hit his lungs as his eyes watered from the dust. He made an odd face as one eye was bit more closed than the other. It was distracting but it wouldn't shut him down. Luckily for him, everyone else was suffering from the attack. He noticed Tex touch the wall and deflate as Smit told him fight defensively. His resolve to get to that man only increased. "So far he's used the two out of the five blockers. If I can get to him before he uses my blocker and take the numbing agent, I can get an easier fight since he's one of the few real threats..." He thought to himself as he dodged the staff wielder. Tex had bent over to pick up the spear. It was at that moment he had called on his power again and rushed towards him with great speed. Rather than attack he stepped over him and used him as a springboard of sorts to get to Smit. He was quickly intercepted by the sword wielder who had swung in a way to break his staff. Unfortunately for her, he had taken care to infuse his staff with his energy. the impact against the wood left not even a mark! To her, it felt like steel hitting steel as the sword hit the staff causing it bounce slightly. He took advantage with a strike that placed part of the staff against her hand and wrist area that was holding the sword. By doing this, he was controlling her attack movement as he used the staff as leverage against her. Try as she might, she could not escape the pin and was disarmed and jabbed in a pressure point for her troubles. He then flicked the sword up into the other hand with his staff as he got closer to Smit. "Why so concerned about what's going upstairs? Don't you have here to worry about?" He taunted as he looked over Smit trying to quickly identify where the deterrents were on his body. As much as he wanted to thrash him around, he was really looking for that numbing sap. He gave a swipe with the sword at his waist, trying to cut his belt as he figured that might be the location for his magic blockers. Of course he was aware this was easier said than done. Tex and the others were still gunning for him and he didn't know what threat Smit was himself. [hr] Upon seeing the man block a sword with his wooden staff, Smit suspected that the sight deterrent was not effective. He need to move on to the next deterrent. He reached into his pouch and pulled out some wheezing pollen. As if on cue, the man lept over Smit's clan mates and began mocking him for not paying attention. He tilted his head to the side. "You certainly like to talk a lot." He said, while trying to keep to the man's right side. Smit was at a clear disadvantage in regards to reach. He would not win a fight one on one. The best he could do was to stay away from that sword, and stick closer to the staff. He was far more likely to survive a blow to the gut than a stab in the gut. Smit pulled out a numbing oil coated knife in his left hand. His other hand still held the pollen. He continued his circling, waiting to see what the man would do. He looked to his teammates. Watched as they closed in on the dirtied man. [hr] "Well someone has to make up for the lack of talkativeness on your behalf" He said with a smile. The man was cornered by him successfully and he needed to be careful getting hit by desperate move. Even if Smit was disadvantaged, he had still had his goons with him. The vagrant saw Smit produce two things, one of them immediately caught his eyes. It was the knife! He knew that Smit was going to rush through the remaining deterrents that he thought would affect him. That knife had to be numbing sap and that clenched fist no doubt had to be some other powder. He knew he was going to be temporarily disabled by the man's next attack. So he had to hurry but and the goons hit him. "Let me borrow that!" He said cheerfully as he swatted the knife out from his hand with the staff. He dropped and kicked the sword away as he grabbed the knife. Calling upon his power for possibly the last time before he loses it, he enhances his reflexes and perception to beautifully embed the dagger into Tex's shoulder. He then ran after him as swung his staff at the other flunky and focused on beating Tex down while he was weakened. He was anticipating the powder with a cool state of mind. It should be a fair trade right? Lose his power in exchange for taking down one annoying flunky. Besides Smit was next provided he didn't run away from this. [hr] Smit cursed. That was a foolish mishap. The dirtied man had done well to guess that Tex’s magic utilized Touch. Smit scrunched the pollen, he held, into the form of a ball. He dared not throw it at the dirtied man, his movement was peculiar. Instead, he threw the pollen ball at the man’s next target, Tex. Surprise. That was the only expression Tex showed before the ball of pollen exploded on his face. It clouded the air around both him and the dirtied man. That made three out of five deterrents. He only could hope that this one worked. The dirtied man made to strike Tex, but not before the woman with the quarterstaff swiped Tex’s footing out from underneath him. One of the two remaining spear men pulled Tex aside. He removed the knife and began bandaging him up. The other spear man went to back up the woman with the staff. The woman brought her sweep upwards, in one fluid motion, knocking aside the target's attack. She then quickly adjusted her footing with a pivot, swinging out the other end of her staff to bring out the dirtied man’s footing from underneath him. With Tex down, Smit whistled yet again. The last man guarding the exit joined the fray. The man pulled out a cudgel. He charged at the dirtied man from behind. Smit pulled out another knife with numbing oil. He chucked it at the dirtied man’s side. As the knife left his hand, Smit swooped down and grabbed the sword discarded by their target.