[b][center][h3][color=orange] Lein [/color][/h3][/center][/b]
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[b][color=orange]Location:[/color][/b] Roadside, Bandit Camp Approach
[b][color=orange]Interactions:[/color][/b] Hope [@Aeolian]
[b][color=orange]Mentions:[/color][/b] Fionn [@The Otter], Gerard [@HereComesTheSnow], Renar [@Psyker Landshark]
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A small creak, a sharp draw of an anticipatory breath and the smell of leather soaked with nervous sweat. They had given away too many signs. As the bandit leapt from his hiding place, his crude blade raised and roaring, Lein had already raised his arrow at the incoming foe with a mockingly apologetic smirk that said, [color=orange]"That's rough, buddy."[/color] With a sharp [i]fwip[/i] the arrow punched through the bandit's mouth and through the base of his skull, splattering blood and fluid across the tree that used to conceal him. The victim clawed at his tongue, teeth biting blood, too late to cry out in surprise.

Lein sidestepped the gurgling man as the brush came to life with motion and steel, two more men wearing patchwork leather and vengeful grimaces attempting to rush the archer that had seemingly waded too far into the treeline. The first lunged towards him with short-sword, thrusting their blade in anticipation that Lein would attempt a dodge backwards; instead the pint-sized Hundi ducked forwards under the sword, pivoting under the arm and slamming his weight into his foe. The bandit let out a startled yelp as the slam knocked him right into the incoming blow of the second bandit's axe. Lein took no time in taking advantage of their momentary shock at the friendly assault: one backstep, two flying arrows, two more crumbling down to the dust.

With his immediate surroundings fended off, he scanned the path that had similarly turned into a brawl. Brawl was inaccurate, actually. It was a pathetic show of skulduggery. They had the element of surprise, the Knight-Captain so graciously taking their horridly constructed bait, and yet between Fionn and Renar tossing the bandits around and Gerard "elegantly" tossing the bandits around, it seemed as if the Knights were the ones who had taken the first strike. The vanguard was quickly surrounding themselves with more dead bodies than live ones, a solid wall of flashing blades and uncoiling muscle that stood between the injured man and their assailants.

[color=orange]"Oh, tea parties are far scarier. If you eat crumpets the wrong way you get yelled at for being [i]unsophisticated[/i]. Least here you just point the sharp end the other way."[/color] He quipped as he rushed past Gerard, shooting down a bandit flanking them with an arrow placed neatly between their brow. The bandits were inexperienced at fighting against plate and had makeshift weapons that they seemed to swing with untrained abandon. Were they even part of this Bandit King's crowd? A crook worth half his coin would know when to mess with a superior force and when to dip. The bigger problem was if any of these ones decided to pull out and ring the alarm (Then again, if the sound of the battle wasn't going to stir people up, Mori's unusually musical enchantments were sure to raise hell), or if they somehow nicked the more vulnerable magi of the Knights.

[i]Speaking of,[/i] Lein thought as he spied Sir Hope struggle against an ambush and a certain icy knight sneaking glances towards Hope, [i]looks like someone's distracted[/i]. Lein leapt next to Hope with an exaggerated overcorrection of his momentum, as if to mimic a bow and conveniently hiding a playful glint in his eye. His voice held an air of knightly-ness as he addressed the mage. [color=orange]"Sir Hope! It seems your beauty knows no bounds, on and off the battle,"[/color] - Lein loosed another arrow against an incoming fighter, deftly shifting so that he would block the line of sight between Yasha and Hope - [color=orange]"friend or foe! Allow me to be your trusty guard against those who would sully it."[/color]