Raineh Daze

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Griffin

The results of Serenity's attempted disembowelling were hard to see. Obviously, the creature hadn't escaped entirely unscathed--the ground was wet with its blood, after all--but at the same time, its ferocity didn't appear to be dimmed at all, as if it was determined to avenge itself upon someone before it bled out. Unfortunately for Fleuri, having temporarily blinded the griffin meant that it couldn't continue to pursue anyone scrambling away, and it couldn't easily reach around to its own back. Particularly with his attempts to blind the griffin forcing its head out of the way of the oncoming arrow, instead thudding into one of its shoulders and making him even further out of reach.

Holding on and anticipating to fight was the wrong choice when its only remaining effective weapon was its own bulk. After all, how else would it try to dislodge the pest except by rolling onto him? Of course, with the weight with which it flung itself down, it was more likely to break something and trap the knight, but at least then it wouldn't have a rider when it got up.

If it got up. After all, the wound was deep, no matter how tough it might be.

Echoes of a Moonless Night

Human

• Name: Sato Suzume
• Age: 2X
• Appearance: On the tall side for a Japanese woman, 175cm.
• Personality: Suzume maintains a professional demeanour to almost everyone, in all situations. To let her control slip would be to show weakness and in turn invite danger and, as a result, threaten the relatively cozy life that she's built up. The only exception to this barrier is Lily and that's still mostly in private. Her cynical attitude isn't entirely logical--it's definitely Suzume's own biases that lead her to consider humans worse than youkai and lean towards explanations for Grudges that rely on humanity being fundamentally bad--but it's certainly logical for one in her former line of work.
  Underneath it all, she's never really gotten over her childhood temper and aggressiveness and gets very prone to acting without thinking where her few scruples are threatened. Or Lily.
• Skills: Although her knowledge of how to fight could charitably be described as third-hand martial arts, Suzume has plenty of practice using them, and no hesitation in taking action when the time comes. Although, when it comes down to it, the former criminal's much more comfortable with any sort of weapon, legal or not, than brawling. She's also very used to sizing up a situation for anything out of the ordinary or immediate threats--particularly if anyone looks like they're concealing anything dangerous.
  Oh, and she's a pretty good driver.
• Equipment: Well, Suzume has a car. A much larger, more spacious vehicle than most city-dwellers in Japan really needs... almost like she's used to moving a bunch of people crammed in at once, or a lot of things.
  Although she doesn't own any (that would be the worst idea of all when trying to stay on the right side of the law), Suzume does have a bunch of contacts if she'd need access to, say, guns. Or if a permit could be acquired...
• History: Someone whose performance in compulsory education could be described as 'managing to show up' and in the minority who never continued to high school proper, Suzume's transition into a life of crime was all the more likely with her family's poor background, and her own aggressive personality and boyish looks at the time. It wasn't something that she really minded doing, and she proved surprisingly good at doing odd jobs.
  Lily was an unexpected discovery when reminding someone exactly what the pecking order was in the area, and for some reason the demon kept showing up to bother her even when the matter was resolved. It wasn't like Suzume had... well, almost any friends, to be honest, let alone close female ones. Annoyingly attractive close female ones were an even smaller pool. So maybe, in hindsight, she hadn't put as much work into pushing Lily away as she should have.
  It was only after they'd been in a relationship for a few years that the topic of a Contract came up. It wasn't like they could be properly married for a whole host of reasons--not least of which being the very slow wheels of bureaucracy for a youkai to show up in the country who had a habit of dropping off of the radar for decades at a time--and it wasn't like they were planning to separate... so why not seal it properly?
  Only afterwards did Suzume realise how acutely her bosses were now paying attention to Lily, beyond the same interests that lead to the demon needing assistance in the first places. After all, her abilities were plenty helpful in their line of work, and when working with Suzume the amount of potential firepower went vastly up. If she ever wanted to consider a life outside of crime, caught even more in proper hierarchies... well, time was running out to leave whilst she still mostly could.
  She's sure her old associates will catch up sooner rather than later, especially if she needs to leverage those contacts for any reason, but for now she's offering that same experience and ability to act decisively in a much more morally upstanding capacity... even if one could argue that agencies using the Attuned for protection really are just a different sort of protection racket.
• Other: Only barely literate--she was, after all, a terrible student--and her writing very much reflects that. As nice as her actual handwriting is, the severely curtailed use of kanji is very noticeable.

Youkai

• Name: (Sato) Lily. Neither is legally her name, if such a thing even exists, but she has been using the latter for at least the past century.
• Race: Demon (Succubus)
• Age: 239
• Appearance: VERY pale, which rather offsets the effortless model-like appearance.
• Personality: Outgoing, friendly, and relentlessly flirty, even though she's now married for all intents and purposes, although she's careful to not go too far; Lily has all the warmth and social grace that Suzume lacks. She's also completely shameless and very open about displaying her affection, something that is fortunately offset by the other woman's much greater restraint. Despite her extroverted demeanour and upbeat attitude, the succubus still has a pretty dim view of human and youkai nature: she'll cheerfully note how venal, greedy, and selfish people are, with a smile on her face. That dislike of possessiveness stretches into her relationships--in the past, when people have started to feel too entitled, she's taken that as her cue to move somewhere else and start a new life. Being rather more permanently attached... well, that's a new experience for her, she rather hopes that Suzume's new social circle won't get lured in like that. Maybe her newfound fidelity will help.
• Abilities: On the one hand, Lily's abilities are distinctly those of a succubus: charming, enthralling, and ensnaring. Used actively, she can make herself the centre of attention, push a temporary infatuation onto whoever's seeking to threaten her... or simply make an exciting conversational partner. These, of course, are of little use when dealing with Grudges or the like.
  The other facet to her skills is the distinctly demonic: fire. Lots and lots of fire. Setting things alight, conjuring fireballs, making the flames in the environment obey her will. A particularly modern technique Lily has worked on is imbuing bullets with a little bit of this hellfire, making their impacts literally explosive. Of course, that requires access to a gun...
• Skills: Not many that are appropriate to speak of in polite company. She's surprisingly good at office work, even in Japanese, but hardly has the proper training or credentials for something notable like accountancy.
• History: Most of Lily's history she would consider rather... uninteresting. Oh, she can regale you with tales of historical fashions, and snarky commentary on how social mores have varied so heavily throughout recent history--being a sex demon in infamously uptight (at least outwardly) Victorian Britain was an interesting challenge. But really, she was just living from day to day, doing her best to stay out of trouble and occasionally disappearing when people got too... clingy to resurface elsewhere and start the entire cycle all over again.
  Most recently, this brought her to Japan, and as ever Lily found herself in the less upstanding areas of society. It was a familiar pattern, with her employers-slash-partners really starting to forget what their actual relationship was and that she was still a demon completely able to protect herself. But before it got to that point, another group of criminals felt the need to get involved. Really, it was her fault for not checking the environment first... but she'd already spent so long learning the language and getting ready, Lily hadn't wanted to spend yet more time when she could focus on her own desires.
  From Lily's perspective, Suzume showed far too much worry and concern, even when she tried to assure her that everything was okay--she was a succubus, it was hardly like she was in a coercive relationship. It seemed to put the girl's heart at rest to keep dropping by and assuring her that she was still okay. It seemed like they could both do with having a friend; Lily due to her lack of connections and Suzume due to her harsh facade.
  From there, it became pretty clear that the Japanese woman was attracted to her. And, adorably, holding back out of concern for her wellbeing, regardless of all the assurances otherwise. That was probably why Lily let her be more than just another friend (or 'friend'), with so very few of her potential suitors having ever put Lily's wellbeing first or outright avoided sleeping with her, no matter how willing.
  The Contract was her idea, of course. Aside from being far more significant than a piece of legal paper could ever be, the odds were they'd have to leave the country entirely--if Lily hadn't been marked as dead in the intervening years she'd been in Japan--just to consider a marriage. Then there was the whole matter of being different species... although she did make sure to get rings. Why pass up the chance to get shiny jewellery?
  Suzume's desire to go straight actually caught her by surprise, but Lily's not been complaining--it's not like she particularly enjoyed working menial jobs for criminals.
• Other:

Echoes of a Moonless Night

Weee, characters.

Human

• Name: Sato Suzume
• Age: 2X
• Appearance: On the tall side for a Japanese woman, 175cm.
• Personality: Suzume maintains a professional demeanour to almost everyone, in all situations. To let her control slip would be to show weakness and in turn invite danger and, as a result, threaten the relatively cozy life that she's built up. The only exception to this barrier is Lily and that's still mostly in private. Her cynical attitude isn't entirely logical--it's definitely Suzume's own biases that lead her to consider humans worse than youkai and lean towards explanations for Grudges that rely on humanity being fundamentally bad--but it's certainly logical for one in her former line of work.
  Underneath it all, she's never really gotten over her childhood temper and aggressiveness and gets very prone to acting without thinking where her few scruples are threatened. Or Lily.
• Skills: Although her knowledge of how to fight could charitably be described as third-hand martial arts, Suzume has plenty of practice using them, and no hesitation in taking action when the time comes. Although, when it comes down to it, the former criminal's much more comfortable with any sort of weapon, legal or not, than brawling. She's also very used to sizing up a situation for anything out of the ordinary or immediate threats--particularly if anyone looks like they're concealing anything dangerous.
  Oh, and she's a pretty good driver.
• Equipment: Well, Suzume has a car. A much larger, more spacious vehicle than most city-dwellers in Japan really needs... almost like she's used to moving a bunch of people crammed in at once, or a lot of things.
  Although she doesn't own any (that would be the worst idea of all when trying to stay on the right side of the law), Suzume does have a bunch of contacts if she'd need access to, say, guns. Or if a permit could be acquired...
• History: Someone whose performance in compulsory education could be described as 'managing to show up' and in the minority who never continued to high school proper, Suzume's transition into a life of crime was all the more likely with her family's poor background, and her own aggressive personality and boyish looks at the time. It wasn't something that she really minded doing, and she proved surprisingly good at doing odd jobs.
  Lily was an unexpected discovery when reminding someone exactly what the pecking order was in the area, and for some reason the demon kept showing up to bother her even when the matter was resolved. It wasn't like Suzume had... well, almost any friends, to be honest, let alone close female ones. Annoyingly attractive close female ones were an even smaller pool. So maybe, in hindsight, she hadn't put as much work into pushing Lily away as she should have.
  It was only after they'd been in a relationship for a few years that the topic of a Contract came up. It wasn't like they could be properly married for a whole host of reasons--not least of which being the very slow wheels of bureaucracy for a youkai to show up in the country who had a habit of dropping off of the radar for decades at a time--and it wasn't like they were planning to separate... so why not seal it properly?
  Only afterwards did Suzume realise how acutely her bosses were now paying attention to Lily, beyond the same interests that lead to the demon needing assistance in the first places. After all, her abilities were plenty helpful in their line of work, and when working with Suzume the amount of potential firepower went vastly up. If she ever wanted to consider a life outside of crime, caught even more in proper hierarchies... well, time was running out to leave whilst she still mostly could.
  She's sure her old associates will catch up sooner rather than later, especially if she needs to leverage those contacts for any reason, but for now she's offering that same experience and ability to act decisively in a much more morally upstanding capacity... even if one could argue that agencies using the Attuned for protection really are just a different sort of protection racket.
• Other: Only barely literate--she was, after all, a terrible student--and her writing very much reflects that. As nice as her actual handwriting is, the severely curtailed use of kanji is very noticeable.

Youkai

• Name: (Sato) Lily. Neither is legally her name, if such a thing even exists, but she has been using the latter for at least the past century.
• Race: Demon (Succubus)
• Age: 239
• Appearance: VERY pale, which rather offsets the effortless model-like appearance.
• Personality: Outgoing, friendly, and relentlessly flirty, even though she's now married for all intents and purposes, although she's careful to not go too far; Lily has all the warmth and social grace that Suzume lacks. She's also completely shameless and very open about displaying her affection, something that is fortunately offset by the other woman's much greater restraint. Despite her extroverted demeanour and upbeat attitude, the succubus still has a pretty dim view of human and youkai nature: she'll cheerfully note how venal, greedy, and selfish people are, with a smile on her face. That dislike of possessiveness stretches into her relationships--in the past, when people have started to feel too entitled, she's taken that as her cue to move somewhere else and start a new life. Being rather more permanently attached... well, that's a new experience for her, she rather hopes that Suzume's new social circle won't get lured in like that. Maybe her newfound fidelity will help.
• Abilities: On the one hand, Lily's abilities are distinctly those of a succubus: charming, enthralling, and ensnaring. Used actively, she can make herself the centre of attention, push a temporary infatuation onto whoever's seeking to threaten her... or simply make an exciting conversational partner. These, of course, are of little use when dealing with Grudges or the like.
  The other facet to her skills is the distinctly demonic: fire. Lots and lots of fire. Setting things alight, conjuring fireballs, making the flames in the environment obey her will. A particularly modern technique Lily has worked on is imbuing bullets with a little bit of this hellfire, making their impacts literally explosive. Of course, that requires access to a gun...
• Skills: Not many that are appropriate to speak of in polite company. She's surprisingly good at office work, even in Japanese, but hardly has the proper training or credentials for something notable like accountancy.
• History: Most of Lily's history she would consider rather... uninteresting. Oh, she can regale you with tales of historical fashions, and snarky commentary on how social mores have varied so heavily throughout recent history--being a sex demon in infamously uptight (at least outwardly) Victorian Britain was an interesting challenge. But really, she was just living from day to day, doing her best to stay out of trouble and occasionally disappearing when people got too... clingy to resurface elsewhere and start the entire cycle all over again.
  Most recently, this brought her to Japan, and as ever Lily found herself in the less upstanding areas of society. It was a familiar pattern, with her employers-slash-partners really starting to forget what their actual relationship was and that she was still a demon completely able to protect herself. But before it got to that point, another group of criminals felt the need to get involved. Really, it was her fault for not checking the environment first... but she'd already spent so long learning the language and getting ready, Lily hadn't wanted to spend yet more time when she could focus on her own desires.
  From Lily's perspective, Suzume showed far too much worry and concern, even when she tried to assure her that everything was okay--she was a succubus, it was hardly like she was in a coercive relationship. It seemed to put the girl's heart at rest to keep dropping by and assuring her that she was still okay. It seemed like they could both do with having a friend; Lily due to her lack of connections and Suzume due to her harsh facade.
  From there, it became pretty clear that the Japanese woman was attracted to her. And, adorably, holding back out of concern for her wellbeing, regardless of all the assurances otherwise. That was probably why Lily let her be more than just another friend (or 'friend'), with so very few of her potential suitors having ever put Lily's wellbeing first or outright avoided sleeping with her, no matter how willing.
  The Contract was her idea, of course. Aside from being far more significant than a piece of legal paper could ever be, the odds were they'd have to leave the country entirely--if Lily hadn't been marked as dead in the intervening years she'd been in Japan--just to consider a marriage. Then there was the whole matter of being different species... although she did make sure to get rings. Why pass up the chance to get shiny jewellery?
  Suzume's desire to go straight actually caught her by surprise, but Lily's not been complaining--it's not like she particularly enjoyed working menial jobs for criminals.
• Other:

Echoes of a Moonless Night

Hmmm. Probably some sort of demon (maybe succubus, albeit much less vampy) buuuut need to work on the partner...

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Tyaethe

"Really...?" Tyaethe asked, eyebrow cocking at the attempted stab. Feint or not, it hardly mattered: her sword neatly cut through the spear's shaft, leaving the injured spearman without any effective means to threaten her... or defend against the way it flicked up, its weightlessness to its wielder eerily deceptive as it transitioned into a throat-piercing stab. For all the effort the paladin seemed to put in changing its course, the zweihander might as well have been made of air and it was easily pulled back to rest over her shoulder.

Which left the shield.

Whatever he was expecting, it undoubtedly wasn't for the vampire to whirl around and counter his charge with a punch, mana blazing a bright red as the two collided. It was hard to tell which really got the worst of it; the shield absorbed the blow admirably and its wielder merely had to brace, no matter the emphatic dent made upon it. Tyaethe, on the other hand, seemed to have broken not only her knuckles but her wrist, although those were visibly restoring as she set both hands upon her blade's hilt once more.

"If you're not going to co-ordinate," the girl wondered, enthusiasm dampened and body lowered, telegraphing for anyone with the slightest combat experience her intention, "Then we're done; this won't be fun after all."

The broad slash was obvious. There was no way it couldn't be, Tyaethe had even paused in position before starting the attack. The question was, what could common soldiers do against it? Veterans or not, common sense would dictate using one's shield or armour, maybe trying to deflect the blow entirely. Common sense assumed that you weren't trying to block dwarven steel fuelled by unnatural strength, fast on the heels of an injury that should have barred raising that sword at all. All that common sense gave you was an instant to appreciate your doom.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Griffin

The renewed offensive, and change of focus, broke whatever spell the charm had woven over the griffin's mind, and its response to Serenity's repeated advance matched the creature's prideful display far more. As fast as its talons whipped out to drive the spear aside, it had still been delayed too long to do more than turn the thrust into a graze along its flank--bleeding freely but hardly a reduction in the creature's strength.

It turned out that griffins could look surprised.

For a moment, Fleuri and Lucas landing on its back seemed to leave it completely nonplussed. Sense immediately reasserted itself, and the griffin's attention was diverted to trying to dislodge the pests that had decided to land on its back, wings beating, beak snapping, and as unwilling to stand still as an unbroken horse. It made for a challenging target, and Lein's bolt only found solid meat, not the tendons. Enough to hobble it? Maybe if it were trying to flee, but not enough to entirely stop the creature.

All thoughts of dislodging Lucas and Fleuri seemingly forgotten, the eagle head swivelled around, the creature smarter than most animals and fixing a steady golden gaze on Lein. One step. Two steps. And then, even with the injury, it leapt. Not enough to achieve true flight, not with two passengers weighing it down, and the great wings hardly beat at all. As quickly as it had gone up, it was already going in for a dive, talons reached to grab the mutt that had dared sneak around and hurt it. Only a moment to prepare, before the entire mass of the griffin came down to try and crush him, following up with a bite that could cleave through plate.

Unwittingly, this also moved it out from beneath the blanket of fire. Fortunately for its passengers.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

Tyaethe

The one creeping up behind her probably thought they were so stealthy, trying to go in for some sort of move amidst the din of battle. Maybe, with how much the helmet restricted her peripheral vision, they actually were being subtle. It wasn't like she would know; she'd never had any practical experience of fighting in armour back in her childhood, nor did Tyaethe particularly care for the secretive approach herself. All she knew was that the pounding of her would-be assailant's heart was the most obvious sound of all to her.

But with her sword still temporarily entrapped in the foe ahead of her, and the onrushing axe, there was very little that she could easily do to fight back and stop it. No matter how easy it might be to break out of some attempt at a grapple afterwards, it would only lead to being dogpiled... so it was best to avoid it and the axe in a single go.

Between one heartbeat and the next, the paladin's armour melted away into nothing, a slender girl instead neatly skipping out from between the two veteran soldiers, letting the last-ditch attempt to decapitate her crush into the sneaky one and pilfering a knife from the axe-wielder.

She had to give the one with the spear some credit; he hadn't been shocked by the sudden change in size, thinking to stab out at her all the same. But he had been the one Tyaethe was looking for, and the strike found only a few loose strands of hair as its target was suddenly beside the spear, shooting him a toothy grin and resting one hand casually on the shaft. "Too slow~"

The vampire gave a tug, yanking the bandit forwards as he chose to hold onto his weapon, and giving all the opening she needed to dance forward and stab the knife into his side. Not fatally, she reckoned, neither the spearman's armour nor the knife doing exactly what they were meant to, but the injury made a welcome distraction to back off and wrench her sword free, the small girl once again being dwarfed by the blessed blade.

And there were still more coming? Tyaethe let out a dissonantly innocent-sounding laugh. Ah, this was fun after all; maybe more than playing with the griffin would have been.

@Rune_Alchemist

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

The Griffin

The arrows, expertly aimed for the beating wings, intended to cripple the beast's means of escape while it was on full display... missed. Not through any lack of aim, but through the same force that the griffin used to try and demand submission. No different than shooting into a sudden squall, the currents of air threw off the careful shots as it dropped back to all fours, golden eyes staring piercingly at Serenity, some avian intelligence accusing her of attempting to take advantage of its display, even if the attack hadn't worked.

Its advance was reserved, though, no matter how fast its talons lashed out at the offending spear to try and snap it--perhaps, then, this griffin had experience with hunters, or the bandits had employed their own weapons to force it into the cage, letting it learn what a human's claws and beak were. Yet, something was holding it back, its actions still fighting for dominance rather than going for the throat. Morianne's music, perhaps, was having an effect, no matter how much pride and rage it had.

@Psyker Landshark@Crimson Paladin@Psychic Loser@ERode@Saiyan@Rune_Alchemist@PigeonOfAstora

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

The beast wasted no time in avenging itself on its tormentors, massive head lunging down and snapping a neck between its beak as if it was nothing. It was just a bigger rabbit, wrapped up in stinking hide and hair. But the griffin had no time to turn its kill into a meal; all around were more of its gaolers. Some even remained unbowed despite its display, and the intelligence behind its avian eyes looked at them calculatingly for only a second before defining the knights:

Challengers.

The griffin reared back defiantly, height on full display; far larger than either of the parts it resembled. Larger than a lion. Much larger than an eagle. Only the mightiest of warhorses would have equalled it, and rearing back in the magical firelight, it was an intimidating sight. Once again, the animal let loose a cry--not a screech of frustration, but a piercing cry of challenge, a single deafening call audible throughout the camp--if not for miles around, enough to spook the horses the knights had brought with them.

The massive wings beat heavily, demanding that all before it kneel, that Lein and Serenity lower their necks in submission and accept their fate. A gust of wind strong enough to send the unaware tumbling; a gale made entirely of muscle and sinew.

@PigeonOfAstora @ERode

---

Tyaethe Radistirin

The paladin winced as the massive tree came down. Was this entire camp set up as a trap to separate the captain--no, that wouldn't make sense; even Jeremiah would know that it wouldn't save him. There had to have been something else intended for that, to start with; the tree must have been for equalising the battle somehow. This was just opportunism. At least they knew where the so-called Bandit-King was, and her group had its orders: get to the captain and reinforce her.

Of course, that meant she had to pull more of the attention to herself and force the veterans to stay on her.

"So, you must have been important once. Now look at you, a bandit," she taunted, pushing away the first axe blow. If they weren't important, were just some peasant levy or low-ranking man-at-arms, then there would be no reason to have gone on the run. They'd gotten the traitor, hunted down the ringleaders--massacring the soldiery wasn't practical or necessary. "For a few minutes."

When the second heavy axe swing came down, Tyaethe adopted for the radically impractical tactic of stepping into it--not enough to stop the blow, or even deflect it. Enough to stop the axe from getting an angle to go clean through her armour, but the arm beneath was surely broken all the same, having been taken with so little resistance. Useless for swinging the sword now clenched in that fist. That was fine, it would heal soon enough, and she could still push forward.

Against humans, against trained warriors--always push forward, always attack. That was Tyaethe's style. Injury was just a nuisance to be accepted; defence a frivolity that drew out the battle. Here, then, the bandit was expecting a normal response to injury--panic, defence, some form of backing off. Instead, the paladin's paces quickened, and her good, left hand slugged them in the face, dropping back to the blade's ricasso, pulling the weapon up tightly to once try and gut this one like a fish.

With her rapid advance, and proximity to their ally, Tyaethe wasn't worried about the spear strike--not immediately, the first blow glancing off the armour. They'd try something worse next time, she needed to deal with the axe-wielder fast or at least keep them off-balance. Fighting on multiple fronts was annoying.

Blades of Iron Roses: An Anime-Inspired Knight RP

As the second group moved into position, Tyaethe tapped her fingers against her blade a few times before fixing the other knights with a harsh look. "If they let out whatever beast they have, or Jeremiah shows his face, I want you to forget about dealing with the bandits and work together to focus on those first. They're probably going to be used to separate the captain from her own group, and it's better if you're prepared to reinforce.

"I'll keep any bandits that get in the way focused on me. You only have to help if we can't reinforce the centre."

As the seconds ticked down until the time came to advance into the camp, the vampire focused--and was engulfed in a dark pall, streaked through with red light. The alarming sight only lasted but a second before it faded away into the far more familiar sight of Tyaethe's armour, the paladin now standing shoulder to shoulder with the tallest of their knights.

If she was planning to hold the attention of the bandits on her own, the armour gave a good indication how. Less than worked metal, it looked like an idealisation of armour. Nowhere could a buckle or clasp be seen; no ties to hold it in place. Only the armour itself, all shining metal and rose iconography, impossible to put on or take off through natural means. The fit was slightly too precise, and every piece polished to a mirrorlike sheen, the bent metal offering a warped reflection of the world around. It was the storybook appearance of a paladin, a knight in shining armour, and the way it caught and reflected the light was deliberately eyecatching.

The second way Tyaethe planned to hold the attention was exposed as much simpler as the paladin lead their group in from an angle, steps not faltering even as the bandits manning the defences here put up a much better prepared front than the ambush. Coats of plates, pieces of chainmail, and proper helmets alike--these bandits were veterans of the War of the Red Flag, and actually outfitted as proper soldiers. Their equipment was still a motley assortment of polearms and axes, even a sword here or there, but they were a much more fitting enemy than the little ambush. One even lowered his spear to intercept the paladin, only for a disorienting burst of speed in her step to take her within his reach, sword swinging.

It didn't stop as it carved through his torso. Or that of the woman beside him, arms uselessly dropping with her axe. Or even after the third. It only stopped once she found empty air after the little clump, sword pulling back to catch an opportunistic swing from another of their enemies, pushing the blow away with a twist.

The second method for keeping the bandits on her was, in short, to be a very pressing threat to fight.