The festival ? Oh really ? Manald still felt the groggyness sit deeply inside him, but even in that state the kind of mismatch between the man's statement and the man's overall behavior and clothing was anything but difficult to detect. Since the lycanthrope's eyes narrowed in onto the individual in his grab, he paid little attention to the other one whom he simply assumed to be exactly the same case. He missed the crossbow, but not something else...

[color=darkgreen]"A little low on stamina, are we ? I wouldn't recommend going to a festival if you've already broken in sweat!"[/color] he hissed more than he said, his canine and not so human looking teeth clearly visible to the other man whose eyes widened in horror. It was obvious to the assassin that he would not get out of here entirely the way he wanted to say the least, so why not take a shortcut to the inevitable ? This hairy individual might have a vice grip from hell, but so much mass would be no match to the speed of a dagger!

In one rapid move, the assassin moved his blade out of his cloak and struck for the spot he had already looked out for well in advance. As his fingers started touching Manald's long hair while pushing the blade into the lycanthrope's flesh all the way to the handle, he could feel the vice grip go beyond what his wrist could safely handle. At the first moment the surge of pain only helped to boost Manald's rage and he broke the bone. He gave the assassin's legs a violent kick in order to send the man to the ground below his feet.

This really was [i]not[/i] the kind of revitalizing night Manald had hoped for! And yet his current headache had potential to become the least of his problems as he was not even aware of the blade being poisoned yet. Now that said tool had been in so close proximity he could pick the strange scent of some weird ingredient, too, but that could just be a very thin layer of oil on top of the steel as well. He did manage to suppress his desire for a quick kill though: that man on the ground could be useful for some questioning. Their encounter here on the open streets had not been a planned one after all and hardly anyone without some kind of malicious intention would risk an open attack this way.

Manald's next kick however did annihilate the potential for any torturer to play with the assassin's center of fertility though. It was rammed deep into the groin and recovery was anything but granted -- something Manald honestly did not think about at that point. Slowly, the injury sustained turned from an envigorating factor into a hampering one. Manald needed to make sure the man on the ground was thoroughly disabled and ready to be taken care of by someone else before he'd stop being able to do so. He directed his attention towards the assassin's other arm and stomped onto the man's hand so he'd finally let go of his weapon, even if that would mean breaking a bunch of fingers in the process.

At that point he could hear a noise approaching a little too fast for comfort and it made him turn his head. It was Merik and it seemed he was going reptile on the assassin's colleague. Good thing, simply because for a very brief moment Manald could spot a crossbow now that the assassin's clothing was in turmoil due to its owner being under attack. Even a lycanthrope could not handle two people who were yards away from each other with bare hands simultaneously...

The real question still remained though: How would the poison affect him ? Would it do anything at all do his differnt metabolism, would it make no difference or would it cause an even worse reaction ? Or would the amount transferred simply be insufficient to really hurt someone of his much more massive size ?