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Imogen stubbornly pressed on, fighting every urge to turn around and fight the goliath filling her peripheral vision. At some point, she knew she would make it past safely—or did Dogberry tell her? Whatever, it was difficult to keep the metaphor straight while simultaneously trying to: pounce on the mages that were making things go boom; stop herself from joining Aubie in taunting and hurting the big bad giant man; and keep from worrying about Kel, who closed in on the mages as well from the other side. Imogen had resigned to following what her gut told her, and normally it was the easiest thing in the world to do. But when other people's lives are on the line, she would have preferred to be in the thick of the action. 

This time, she'll have to trust that everyone will be okay.

And just as she thought this, she felt rather than saw the giant's axe swing downward. Her heart hardly had the time to drop and fear for Kel; the unmistakable clashing of metal against metal was enough to tell her he was safe. Imogen couldn't spare a backward glance to see what had transpired so she settled for imagining Kel masterfully parrying the bandit's blow with his sword, hands strong and steady, though his knees were shaking. It would be too unrealistic, even for one of her flights of fancies, if Kel wasn't at least slightly scared.

With the giant bandit properly distracted, Imogen was in the clear. The mages might have been too preoccupied with their creepy chanting to notice her approaching, but there was no escaping their attention now. [color=ffb5c2]"Hey, over here!"[/color] she called out, waving her sword wildly to get them to focus on her.

Once again, the goal was diversion. Earlier, she had seen an arrow bounce off a magical barrier they cast. And before that, she was almost certain it had sucked up whatever magic attack the Professors directed at it. Any attack she does would ultimately be deflected as well, but that would give the others their chance to strike. She'll have to do a one-two combo to break through and then just kinda… hope for the best? That was as much strategizing as Imogen was capable. Attack twice and see what happens sounded pretty foolproof to her! 

While still in full sprint, Imogen raised her sword over her head, grasping it with both hands as she charged. It almost looked like she was going in to slash at the closest of the mages, but instead, she came to a sudden stop just meters away. She used the momentum to throw her sword, sending it hurtling toward the leftmost mage. Then she ducked and stepped to the side, away from the sword's trajectory once it bounces back. 

Aaand that was part one of the combo, in which she literally throws away her weapon. The only way Imogen could think to follow it up was through some good ol' fashioned grappling. Kind of like that time someone in town dared her to hunt down a hog without weapons, except this time, she'll win and not need Caius to save her. Crouching down in preparation, Imogen singled out the mage with the skull staff—not for any Dogberry-related warnings but because he honestly looked the most menacing—and waited for the faint flicker that signaled the barrier dematerializing.

When she was sure it was gone, Imogen sprung up and pounced on the mage with a war cry.