[center][@Zool][@Calle][@Dark Cloud][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Indrajita][@Goblinguy][@Zapdos][@Eviledd1984][/center] [center][@Zapdos][@Eviledd1984][@Zool][/center] The vines curling up and around the Armoured Ogre took hold, first around one leg, forcing it to halt. Ordinarily the great monster would have enough strength to quickly power out, but it was starting to feel the effects of the sword buried deep in it's shoulder and lung, aswell as the multitude of stab wounds on it's legs courtesy of the townsguard. Then it's second leg was ensnared. MacKensie's bolts landed next, and the relatively stationary target was easy pickings for the ranger. Bolts thudding in and around the ogres eyes caused it to roar in pain. The townsguard who'd found themselves under direct command of James earlier had actually chased the Armoured Ogre the whole way across the field, and at this point caught up to the raging beast. They charged in with spears and shouts, driving their weapons into their target. One spear snapped the clasp of the ogres iron chestplate - Zell's sword having severed another - causing the chestplate to fall away and reveal a previous injury on the monster. On it's breast was a horrid mess of scar tissue, an 'X marks the spot' for it's heart, if ever there was one. Adam's vines crushed it's arms by it's sides as the not-so Armoured Ogre's strength began to fail. More vines cut off it's air supply via strangulation. MacKensie's bolts had blinded it permanently. It was then Joji Yamazaki arrived with such speed, his sword attack landing with such momentum, that the former-hitman's blade sliced right into the scar tissue and pierced the heart of the monster. The Armoured Ogre was no more. Only held up by the vines that secured it's fate. [center][@Goblinguy][/center] On a mangled leg and with it's entrails dangling out of it's body, the Beserker Ogre was simply not fast enough to win the collision with Arthur. It swung it's club at Arthur's head, once in range, but just before it could cave in the Reaver's skull, the ogre's hand let go of it's weapon. The club spun in the air, over Arthur's head, from the momentum. The reason for this was that the anchor's curved spike, covered in frost, hit the Beserker Ogre right in the gut, tearing through it's already open wound and burying itself inside the monster. The Beserker Ogre stumbled a few more steps as ice began to spread rapidly around the gaping wound, covering a sizable section of it's torso. Anchor still inside the monster, it fell to the ground dead. [center][@Teyao][@Saiyan][/center] James' swift intervention had indeed saved Vadim's life. The Cleric's magic was applied just in the nick of time to slow the blood flow to a stop and the Commander was no longer bleeding out. Though it would be hard to tell with how pale the man was, not to mention the red-soaked bandages that dressed him. The townsguard were still skeptical of their leader's recovery, but one did go over to Zell to check him over. "He doesn't appear to have any serious injuries," the guardsman told James loudly over the roars of the ogres. "Just a nasty bump on the back of his head." He gave Zell a couple of stiff slaps across the face. "Wake up, adventurer. The battle isn't yet done." [center][@Zool][@Calle][@Dark Cloud][@Saiyan][@Teyao][@Indrajita][@Goblinguy][@Zapdos][@Eviledd1984][/center] By the time that Fenna and Clive returned to the others, the battle was over and the rest of the skeletons had been chased out of the town. Hommas was safe once again. Vadim was barely conscious but weakly ordered one of his men to help him sit up. "You..." he said, looking at Adam. "Druid... come here." One of his men echoed the command louder at Adam and beckoned him over. Vadim still wasn't sure himself that he'd live, and so he pointed at the other adventurers and waved them over before addressing Adam. "That thing you picked up... the heart of the Skeleton Leader..." he wasn't even sure what it was. "The purple light that came from it... caused... the other skeletons to flee..." The Commander coughed weakly. "Commander, please, rest." "Quiet... you nitwit..." even in this state, the leader of Hommas could still be obnoxious. "That thing is important... It could... change the war... Please... it must be taken... delivered to the right hands. The entirety... of the free peoples of The Empire... of Mytheria... might rest on the knowledge that that thing might hold." He gave a command for a soldier to retrieve 1000 silver pieces from the town treasury. This was, perhaps, half the town's wealth and an exorbitant amount, but he had to be sure that the adventurers would be persuaded to do one final task. A task more important than any he'd commissioned in his life. "We are losing this war... The Witch Queen's Undead Armies have crippled our armies... we haven't won a single battle as of yet... and our dead join her ranks as undead... if nothing changes... she will destroy all life in our world... we cannot win... unless something changes." Slowly but surely, the increased healing speed was taking more of an effect. While he still could not sit up without help, his breathing and speech started to improve. "I don't know how you came to be here... Stone coffins do not simply fall from the sky. That is out of the oridnary, even for your kind. But I am a man of action and so... I hold others to the standards of theirs... and you helped us, at a moments notice, without a second thought. At first I thought that; Perhaps the Quinity had blessed our humble little town with your arrival. But now I see clearly... that the Quinity blessed [i]the world[/i]." His pointed finger turned on each of them. "You were destined to be here... To earn a victory where The Witch Queen least expected there to be resistance... arriving so instantly that her scouts could not have calculated such push-back... and now we have this thing... this cube... a key to the secrets that might save us." The guard came sprinting back, huffing and puffing, carrying the satchel full of jangling coins. Much of the 1000 silver was actually made up of more valuable gold pieces, making it easier to carry. "1000 silver pieces... It's all yours... just please... take that cube - that thing - to the city of Valhiem. North of here... two days travel if you head off the road and into the wild. I trust in your ability to defend it, should the Witch Queen's forces give chase. But you must be swift. You must leave now. There is no time to spare. Our mages and scientists must see that cube. It must reach Capitol City."