Syrena Sinclair, Arkhant, Ronin, Franky - Westroad Village
Ronin approached two of the squad member that would be joining him on the assault dragging his Imposing axe behind him. Leaving his weapon in the ground Ronin clapped both his companions on the back a little harder then was necessary. "And I'm Ronin, good to meet you two." The slap on the back while it stung, like the suckling parasitic kiss of a mosquito for Franky a similar "pat" sent Syrena's delicate frame sprawling into the dust. Ronin took a step forward and offered her his hand to help her up. "Sorry there little miss, sometimes I forget not everyone's as large as I am. Are you okay?"
Franky glanced down at Syrena as she was helped to her feet by the brutish Ronin. It came to no surprise that the only other man who fit a similar role to Franky had a similar look and shape to him. Franky would never class himself as dignified, nor would he particularly want to be. He was a common man with an uncommon lifestyle. He got things done with an axe. If it didn't work, he'd bring a bigger axe, but he had a code. His power and brute strength didn't explode out of him like a brute. But it did for Ronin, and knowing that looking upon the barbarian was the same as looking into a metaphorical mirror, he could never escape being tarnished with the same brush as this willing oaf.
The large magical tome Syrena was carrying cushioned her fall. While he hands stung slightly she wasn't injured. "F-fine. I'm f-fine." she muttered as the very large axe wielding gentleman helped her to her feet.
Ronin turned to Franky with a good natured grin on his face. "What about you sir, are we ready to start the attack?"
"I be ready, it seems you already started," nodding to Syrene as he finished his remark. Franky had no grin, instead, he had a fairly unimpressed blank expression. "What say ye, lass? We be getting to swinging once you can rain fire down," he added to Syrena.
Ronin felt very guilty for knocking the young girl down. He'd meant to be friendly and instead he'd almost injured her. Well what was done was done. It wouldn't do any good to dwell. He'd said his apologies and they had a mission to complete.
"My apologies again miss..." he paused searching for her to give her name.
"Syrena, m-my name Syrena." the young fire mage muttered to the ground. The presence of someone so boisterous and ready for action made Syrena feel very small and timid. The fact that both Ronin and Franky were turning to her, expecting her flames didn't do anything to help matters.
Syrena cracked open Arma Infernum. Strictly speaking she didn't need the tome to channel her magic but if she was to have any hope of controlling it the runes scrawled across each page were more than necessary. Syrena laid her hand over the words and each started to glow with blue light. A small fire burst into being in Syrena's palm and disappeared almost as quickly. "I'm r-ready."
Ronin glanced around. "Hang on, weren't there four member to our party? Two for the front of the building and two for the back." The axe wielder couldn't quite recall who else had been assigned to there unit but he was sure there was a fourth member.
When Hugh gave the signal to move out Arkhant looked up from the scrolls and books he'd been studying. Their tactician had been devising a plan for the last two hours. Arkhant had thought he had more time to study.
The magician snatched up the scrolls and books that he could carry before running off to find his squad. Finally he caught sight of the three, two large axe wielders and one much smaller girl who he'd heard could command fire with extraordinary power. He should remember to ask her about that later on. He magic seemed rather unconventional and he was more than curious as to what made her different. Perhaps some sort of artifact had imbued her with power, or else she was natural phenomenon. He was getting off topic.
The group looked as though they were just about to march out. "Wait!" He called after them, willing them to stop for him. Arkhant skidded to a halt in front of the three others and dropped most of his materials on the ground. He scrabbled to pick them up before realizing that they were about to go into battle. He couldn't hope to carry of all this. Reluctantly he plucked his elwind tome from the bunch and set everything else down next to a tree where it would be safe.
Franky glanced down at the newly arrived mage, clearly unimpressed. Rather then comment on the newest member of there group he turned to Ronin and said. "I'm not one for all this smart-war malarchy. Do we wait on some signal before we strike? The bandits will most likely focus on the burning building amongst everything else. If the goal is to save the villagers, we don't know how they might take to this group being the first to strike."
To answer the pirate's question Arkhant cleared his throat. "In warfare a distraction is generally perpetrated before the actual attack into order to draw attention away from the main strike unit so the wisest course of action would be for our group to be the first to take the offensive. Oh and I'm Arkhant by the way."
Ronin looked the mage up and down. He was rather scrawny and while clearly intelligent Ronin doubted he'd ever seen a real battle up close. Still the boy was eager to learn, that was clear enough. "That's well enough for what's written in your books but this is real combat. If we draw everyone to one spot immediately we will have every enemy unit to deal with. While I take great pride in my own strength and assume that each of you are able fighters we could not take on that force on our own. It's best we attack at the same time as the others. It keeps the bandits divided."
Syrena looked between the other three as they argued about the proper time to begin the attack. In her mind the best point would be a little ways after the attack had begun. Then her flames could serve as a distraction for the enemies already in combat and they would only have the lancers in the building to deal with on there own. Still she didn't want to interrupt anyone and she wasn't really sure that she could outline her plan decently even if she did start to speak. Still there was something she could point out to the others.
"Ex-excuse me." he said, he voice was quite and might well have been overlooked. "I think, I think t-they're already g-gone." Syrena said point to the open field where there leader Hugh, the cavalier Jakobe, the dark mage Nicki and the rather quite priest whom someone had called Marcus were charging one of them enemy sentries.
"Sh-should we go?" she asked looking at everyone else. They all obviously had more combat experience than she and so she deferred to them to know what was the best course of action.
Franky shrugged his shoulders. On the one hand, it conveyed his general indifference the the whole situation, but also established his genuine lack of wisdom in regards to this kind of warfare. He didn't know whether they should go on, but it didn't worry him either way. Franky made his was from the camp towards the village. He paused on the perimeter of the village, as his lack of listening to the briefing left him lost on where exactly they needed to be, or what buildings they were looking for.
Ronin watched as Hugh and his squad charged into battle as well as Franky lumber over to the side of the village. "I'd say that's our cue. Whatcha think?" he said glancing back at Arkhant and Syrena as he followed Franky to the side of the village.
Arkhant nodded in agreement as Ronin led the way to the side of the village. Before they started moving the young mage glanced at the girl beside him. "You're sure you're prepared with this? I've studied this kind of warefare. Forgive me for asking but can you summon your magic under pressure, some mages can't."
Syrena's mouth turned up in a sweet and innocent smile at Arkhant's concern. She was perfectly capable of using her magic under extreme circumstances. In fact that was generally when it worked the best. Rather then speak in answer Syrena held up her hand and a small ball of blue fire burst to life in her palm before she snuffed it out and followed Ronin to the side of the village.
The house that is was indicated Syrena should burn was on the outskirts of the town. It looked to be some sort of pub just off the main road. It wasn't that uncommon for these sorts of buildings to be near the towns entrance so that weary travelers might make use of them. The others followed Syrena up to it as it was her job to set the place ablaze.
Syrena was about to summon her magic when Arkhant raised an objection. "I'm sorry miss but we should be covering the other entrance otherwise some of the lancers may escape. Give me and Ronin two minutes before you light this building." Syrena nodded quietly and started to count in her head. She glanced at Franky once or twice while she waited.
When the time elapsed Syrena opened the cover of Arma Infernum and placed her hand on the page, The runes began to glow and first burst into being on the page. Syrena scooped the flames up in her hand threw them like a ball at the roof of the pub. Her flames took root almost immediately as the thatch was let alight. There was a thirty second delay before she started to hear shouts of "FIRE!" From inside the building.
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