[IC] The Stand - A Fantasy PvE

[Penultimate_Pi]

Before Julian could roll out, a huge shield parked itself in front of his frame, and the hunter had a double take at the sudden occurrence. He was snapped back to logic when the arrows slammed into the new obstacle like a sharp rain.

"You needn't fear being struck, archer, I shall take care of that," A hard voice above him announced, and Julian looked up to the the flowing hair and golden armor of a paladin. He couldn't help but grimace a little bit - his current state didn't make him popular with practitioners of the holy, but if this man was willing to aid him, who was he to refuse? Enemy of his enemy, as it were.

"Alright, we'll compromise," Julian said, his raspy voice starting to really betray his humanity. "I'll take care of the archers, you handle the warriors." Without waiting for confirmation, Julian dashed out wide from behind the paladin's guard, nocking another arrow.

From his vantage, the phantom hunter could see that there was two groups of archers from each of the front side gates, each down to two orcs. While the paladin held the five orc warriors at bay, Julian drew his bow, channeled the arrows magic with a whisper of "Blast Shot," and fired into the two archers remaining from the left gate, to finish what he started. Regardless of whether or not it killed them outright, the blast would at least knock them asunder.

Julian then turned to the other group, already about to fire another volley, and prepared another Blast Shot. The orc bowmen might already have their arrows flying by the time Julian's own attack could get rid of them, but at least that would stop them from being any further of a problem. He at least hoped the paladin didn't get himself surround in the meanwhile, so he could fall back to a safer point when the arrows let loose.

[Eklispe]

Yash grinned, good, it appeared the archer was deciding to be reasonable. He looked at the attacking orcs quickly deciding how how best to eliminate them quickly. As soon as the first orc raised his axe into the air Yash stepped forward and swept his divine blade in a graceful arc, removing the axe head and causing it to fall harmlessly into the ground. He continued the swing his blade, and it flashed in a deadly horizontal slash aimed at the second orc's midsection. It should take the first orc a few seconds to react and that would be more than enough time for Yash to turn back and finish him off. He narrowed his eyes at the sight of archers he had quickly left behind setting their sights on him, hopefully the archer would take care of them before they had time to launch another salvo, it wouldn't be dangerous but it would certainly be annoying.

[PaulHaynek]

Enemies: 24

@Penultimate_Pi
Your first magical shot obliterated the pair of Orc archers who had just began aiming. The second was equally successful, the Orcish archers had only began aiming before an explosion engulfed them both. They were not even aiming at you.

However, the sudden disappearance of the third warrior left an entire group of Orcs free and now, the five archers who had an Orcish Raiser behind them were aiming at you while three swordsmen charged at you. Fortunately, they were at least far enough for you to react.

@Eklispe

Your graceful slashes took down the flanking Orc and impaled the attacking one. However, the first Orc still had some fight left in it and embraced you, momentarily immobilizing you long enough for the three Orcs you left to tackle you to the ground and using their combined weight to hold you down. One Orc dislodged and raised his axe, aiming for your head.

On the bright side, the two archer Orcs were handled by your undead ally.

[Eklispe]

Yash cursed as he felt the orc slam into his side, slowing him long enough for the other orcs to tackle him and cause him to crash to the ground. He had been overconfident, how unusual of him. "Infidels!" he shouted out and his shield shone with a blinding amount of light preventing the orc from landing his attack and stunning the two on top of him with the sheer amount of power along with infusing him with a burst of strength. He surged to his feet horizontally bisecting his would be attacker and slamming his either heavy shield onto one of the downed orcs throat, crushing it. Finally he turned his baleful gaze and the last remaining orc, either he would stomp the orc into submission if he remained on the ground, or if he tried getting up Yash would slice through the pitiful creature.

[Penultimate_Pi]

Glancing past the small war between the paladin and the orc warriors, Julian's awareness suddenly registered the primary attack group from the northern gate - was their third ally gone? It seemed so, as the undead's faltering vision was just barely able to discern the larger crowd of archers taking aim at him. The hunter broke out into a run again, diving out of the way of the archer's fire as best as he could afford while tracing the arena's outer lining to get a better aim at the orcs.

One he got close enough for a fair shot (though still far enough to keep a lengthy distance), he charged another Hallow Arrow to try and take down the magician and one of the archers in one go, like before with the warrior and archer. Letting the arrow fly, he immediately strung up another arrow to prepare for a Blast Shot, but waited to see if his first attack connected fully. By the sounds of battle aside him, it sounded like the paladin was making good progress of his own, and would soon be able to assist him in taking down this final group - he had a feeling it was going to be deceptively difficult.

[PaulHaynek]

Enemies: 20

@Eklispe

Having no eyes, the Orcs were not affected by the bright light from your shield but your sudden burst of strength threw them off you and allowing you to dispatch two of them with your sword and shield. The third one immediately tried to get up only to meet its end by the edge of your blade.

Still, the fight was far from over as you witness some five Orcs wielding spears emerge from the second entrance on the left side who all spot you standing in the middle of the room. Needless to say, they charged with their lances poised to thrust, all the while some of the fallen yet physically intact Orcs began to stir.

@Penultimate_Pi

After evading the volley of arrows from the archers, your retaliating, piercing shot managed to take down one of the archers but not the Raiser who dodged the arrow. The archers have begun reloading while the mage Orc held out his staff whose ruby crystal glowed with power. Some of the fallen yet physically intact Orcs had began stirring.

The three swordsmen coming at you had gotten closer, one attacking you directly with a slash while the other two began positioning themselves to surround you.

[Eklispe]

Yash frowned as even more orcs came to attack, it seemed that they were more of them then he had anticipated. He took a step back at the sight of the bodies twitching, a sniff revealed to him the foul scent of black magic. Similar to that of his companion yet this was more malevolent. He nearly instantly tracked the source to an orc wielding a stuff topped with a ruby crystal. Sadly there was no way that he could attack the necromancer with all the orcs between them. Even Yashatatsu didn't feel comfortable fighting five spear-men, possibly with zombies to boot. Sparing a second to look at his ally Yash noted that he was under attack, though the archer could doubtless handle himself in combat it would be best to let him attack with his preferred style.

Employing the same tactic he used earlier Yash charged one of the orcs ramming into him with his shield and viciously stomping on its throat. With his heavy boots that should be more than enough to kill the creature, now the rest of the fallen orc's companions drew in close penning Yash in. Of course Yash had planned for this and as they came closer and closer with small mincing jabs, Yash took a deep breath and yelled at them beginning a spinning maneuver before turning into a blur of light and appearing in front of the archer, still spinning. Yash's heavy shield smashed the leading orcs swing out of the way knocking him off guard and Yash savagely swinging through him hopefully ripping through his companion as well. When the maneuver was complete Yash would be standing in front of the archer with at least one of the orcs dead, and the spear-men no doubt spending a moment or two bewildered before quickly chasing after him. As much as he wanted to consecrate the ground beneath him weakening these foul creatures it would affect his unholy ally as well. Yash would have to wait for a more opportune moment.

[Penultimate_Pi]

One of the archers went down, but the orc magician was far more nimble. Even while its comrades fell, the raiser held his staff aloft, channeling some magic... and the fallen ones began to rise again. A necromancer! Quickly, before he let the opportunity go to waste, Julian let loose the explosive arrow to try and take out the caster...

And then, all too suddenly, the swordsmen were upon him. Having diverted his attention too long, Julian only barely had time to attempt a dodge roll, only to feel the sharp scrape of a blade across his back. His muscles burned in pain from the sudden wound while his body began to ache from his strain, but the blade did not seem to have bitten deep, at least. Those swordsmen had caught Julian off-guard, and he had to curse himself again for his inattentiveness.

The hunter did, however, take note of the other two orcs attempting to flank him and ensure he couldn't escape. Not one to be foiled so easily, J now drew upon his inner power to generate a magic glyph on his palm - the Mark of the Rukh - and press it onto his other tricep, emblazoning the mark upon him.

Julian felt the alignment of his inner energies shift, the spark of power within him giving way to a glow he felt throughout his form. One of the swordsmen drew close in an attempt to cleave him apart, but Julian's now wicked-fast reflexes prevailed, him taking aim and planting an arrow into the beast's big head. The other orc followed suit, but was caught mid-swing by a parry from Julian's sturdy bow. Before the orc could yet continue, the fell human nocked an arrow and shot right past the blocked blade, into his heart.

A bellowing cry came out to the undead's side, and the archer looked to notice the paladin, his ally, hacking through the field of orcs to come aside the archer. As he came in front of his aim to the third orc, Julian turned back to take aim at the holy warrior's previous opponents, his wounded shoulder blade still screaming with pain. With the raiser's magic, some of the fallen orcs were beginning to stand again, a pale hue consuming them.

"Paladin!" Julian hailed his ally, "Can you not channel some holy energy and dispel these undead?" That was it, the hunter realized; he was undead, too. Though he had been returned to life with sinister alchemy moreso than raw magic, perhaps the consecrating light might harm him as well - he was not so sure. Yet, it was a risk he was willing to take, while the Mark of the Rukh still held him. "Do not worry about me! I am not so vulnerable as to be defeated by light alone. Go ahead and do it!"

[- Mark of the Rukh will remain active for 1 more turn -]

[PaulHaynek]

Enemies: 20+5

@Eklispe
After you had knocked down the first spearman, a lance had thrust upon your shield. It was too weak to pierce but it did push you slightly away and prevent you from finishing off the first Orcish spearman.

They were, however, helpless when you started spinning and they had enough semblance of self-preservation not to approach you, their spears instead pointed at you but not attacking.

Relocating over to the archer still spinning, you knock down the first Orc and startling the other two. Like you had thought, the spearmen have begun making their way towards you and the undead archer while four Orcish archers had taken aim at you and your ally.

To make matters worse, five of the fallen Orcs had truly risen near you. They looked muscular than before and had formed mouths on their faceless head. Jagged, sharp teeth was what filled those mouths and they proceeded to lunge at you in all fours like animals. Their summoner still held his staff high, no doubt to raise even more Orcs. It does look vulnerable though.

@Penultimate_Pi
Taking down two Orcs with boosted reflexes, your ally had blocked the Orc coming at your front and you had taken aim at the spearmen coming for the two of you while the four remaining archers had begun aiming.

To make matters worse, five of the fallen Orcs had truly risen near you. They looked muscular than before and had formed mouths on their faceless head. Jagged, sharp teeth was what filled those mouths and they proceeded to lunge at your pointy-eared companion in all fours like animals. Their summoner still held his staff high, no doubt to raise even more Orcs. He does look vulnerable though.

[Eklispe]

Yash nodded at the archer's request, he had limited the use of his powers as much as possible for fear of hindering his ally but what with the five bestial risen orcs charging at him more extreme methods would need to be taken. "Very well," Yash said then stabbed his sword into the ground heavily, from the point of contact runes spider webbed across the floor covering the ground within a 5 meter radius around him encompassing the archer as well. Yash nearly gave a sigh of relief as strength flooded through him, the light no doubt wouldn't be enough to entirely banish the magic keeping those orcs alive, but it should significantly weaken them at the least. The orcs were now within moment of attacking.

Yash gave a feral grin and his eyes glowed with a divine light. Motion slowed for a moment and Yash took his sword from the ground and surveyed the battlefield, truly the odds were against them. "Archer I will ensure no harm comes to you." he said confidently. Then he ducked under the first orc to lunge at him using his shield to launch it behind him. He dealt with the other orcs in a similar fashion simply dodging and redirecting them with his shield. He noted the archer orcs taking aim, no doubt several would be aimed at the archer, but in this state he would be more than fast enough to stop them.