Three of the better armed ones came for Kerr. Nothing else for it, he thought as he slowly re-sheathed his short sword. His left arm wasn't wanting to respond as quickly as normal after that throw up on the cliff. The sharp spike of pain he felt every time he moved the thing wasn't helping either. Kerr moved to his own right, encouraging the charge of a wide-eyed man who looked like he just wanted to run straight through him. Blade held in a gut-level position ready for a power thrust, that's precisely what the other man did as he came in but holding his blade like that had telegraphed the move from way out. Kerr tapped the blade off-course as he stepped the opposite direction and past lead foot of the other man as he whipped his own blade around and behind himself. The point sank in under that man's left armpit. A twist and a pull and the other man was staggering away with a yelp.

Meanwhile Kerr was continuing his circling path but now closing in with the other two. They were smart enough to get out of one another's way, starting to circle in opposite directions. Kerr threw himself at the one on his right, dancing between the two and past once again. The one he'd feinted toward withdrew sharply as the one he'd turned his back on attacked sharply. Kerr spun his blade behind him, having intended to draw that engagement in the first place, and caught the slash. Driving it aside he promptly dropped a heel stomp on the man's leading knee at the end of his dancing turn. He continued the turn and waggled his blade at the other man's knees as he tried to close in after changing directions. He snatched his legs back and wisely swept his blade across and downward at Kerr's.

The one he'd wounded under the arm started to threaten in again but... something was wrong. All three of them, Kerr and the two he was dueling paused looking at one another as the air stirred unnaturally. Men were suddenly flying through the air to be slammed back down by gravity. That had everybody's full and undivided attention, especially if they hadn't been struck by it directly. Kerr, fortunately, had the other two men in his line of sight so he shook himself out of the awe first (didn't hurt that he'd been around a lot more magic than the two of them) and launched himself forward. A thrust to the unwounded one's neck turned into a spinning slash that caught the wounded one across the thigh. Thigh guy went down hard, screaming in shock and pain. The one with the fast bleeding neck wound looked... resigned, Kerr thought to himself with tilted head looking at the guy for a second before the other man collapsed to his knees... then face.

"Truth is in the killing," he quipped to himself before turning to see how the giant was doing with the poor unfortunate bastards that had squared up with him. That was suitably horrible, and exactly why he'd set the big man to the task he had. Always good to know the strengths and weaknesses of your assets. A look across the field said he needed to get Nathaniel a shield. He was walking wounded though kudos to the guy for continuing even though injured. That was another good trait in a sell-sword. People who quit just because they were injured tended to die, Kerr thought to himself as he stabbed the man with the shattered knee in the neck on the way by to silence his caterwauling. Jackson was looking to Nathaniel so that was a matter momentarily off Kerr's plate as he set about ensuring the bandits were too badly injured or dead to continue the fight.

A few were missing, less than a half-dozen by his count, but all the professionals were accounted for. That meant a few out of work porters talked into being a bandit for a day were running through the forest like their tails were on fire and desperate to get back home so they could pretend like none of this happened. More power to them. It was probably the best decision any of them had made all week. He walked over to check their leader... that guy was dead-dead. His chin was resting unnaturally on his chest, neck broken from the fall. Kerr shook his head. He had an idea of what this was all about, and he even understood, but it was a real poor reason to get yourself killed. They were stacked to the gills with supplies and equipment, presumably enough gold to pay everyone working, simple uncomplicated greed. Though the career bandits had probably intended to kill any of the day jobbers when the deed was done. That's what Kerr would have done in their position.

He started moving toward the rest of the group and came up just in time to hear somebody ask about Vaiva. "Where was she last seen?" He'd been a little busy to keep track of anyone in particular during the fighting. Trusting them all to do their part.

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[attr="class","jawntatlyrics01"]Ambush!

[attr="class","jawntatlyrics02"]Nymeria ___

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Nymeria's magical attack had made a huge impact in the battle, but there were far too many men for even her magic to wipe out at once. The sight of carnage that the winds caused after the bodies came crashing to the earth wasn't something so easy to watch and forget. The young mage was not a warrior, battle tested and ready, she was not a sell sword groomed and used to the sight of blood spilled. By all accounts, the skilled mage was still a student of the arts and spent her time in libraries reading and shops buying fashionable dresses to wear to the next party. [break][break]

However, being a student meant that she dealt with a lot more theories of applying and the many uses of magic to seeing the actual devastation that it could cause. For years she had been curious about the power of her magic and her control over the forces of nature. The demonstration provided out of necessity was both enlightening and alarming, both beautiful and horrific. Such devastation was enough to turn the tide of battle and yet Nymeria hadn't used the full force of her magic even then.[break][break]

Still, such power had an effect on the lithe mage leaving her incapable of conjuring another directly after. Instead she was left to rely on her other skills as a combatant. She moved her arms in almost a dancing flow and her right leg bent as the other reached forward barely touching the ground. Many would see this as a marital arts stance alone, but it was in fact also a resting pose that she used to recover and guard herself at the same time. [break][break]

What started out as a group of thugs had spawn into a small army with many men still standing and fighting. Nymeria looked around as the battle waged on and the people she arrived with fought off the attackers. She was a little taken aback, but not caught off guard completely when another rushed towards her swinging a sword.[break][break]

Nymeria doubled back, swaying and ducking his attacks as she moved away from him. Perhaps not as skilled in the art of fighting as others, the mage had been taught to handle herself effectively. She waited for the right moment, and right after a slashing motion of his sword and arm, she used magic to put wind under her boot and guided it into his jaw with a quick spin kick. The kick rocked his head and spun his helmet around blocking his view.[break][break]

Winded and blind, he couldn't react quick enough to block the kick that split the bone in his leg or the one that followed that removed the helmet from his head and left him unconscious. Back to the wagons she hurried and climbed back onto the one she had been on before and laid down to rest. "I think....I'm going to have to ask for a bigger pay out."
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[attr="class","jawntatsidefld jawntatsidefld01"]WORDS _xxx

[attr="class","jawntatsidefld jawntatsidefld02"]TAGGED

[attr="class","jawntatsidefld jawntatsidefld02"]TAGGED _xxx

[attr="class","jawntatsidefld jawntatsidefld03"]NOTES _some notes here.

[attr="class","jawntatsidefld"]CREDITS _TIME AFTER TIME post template created by JAWN of WW

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Of all the ill luck, bandits decided to crash the party, so to speak. Eliza for one, wasn't all that amused, though she is glad she had a weapon on hand. The dagger felt welcome in her hold, like greeting an old friends that she hadn't seen in some time. Excitement played along her nerves...until the mage of the party proved to have some power. Most of the bandits were taken care of by the mighty gust, and Eliza huffed even as she watched the aftermath. She had not yet put away her dagger when Idrial asked about one of the members, one she was sure that she had seen sneak off into the trees. 

"I'll go look." She even motioned in the direction she thought the other had gone to. "I have my blade for any trouble I cross, just keep an eye on Isto." She nodded towards her mare, then started to move. Most took her status to mean that she didn't know the first thing about being in the natural growth that surrounded her as she entered the woods. They would be sorely mistaken, seeing as she had spent much of her youth escaping the walls of her home to explore every corner of the land that she could reach. Eliza knew how to survive out here too, if she must. 

That aside, she carefully strode around the trees, keeping her ears and eyes out for any indication of where their party member had gone off to. It was with relief that she finally spotted the other woman, and a quirk of her lips when Eliza saw that the other female was holding her own. At least that was one less worry, but seeing as there were bandits that the gale had missed, Eliza was sure that it would be fine if a few fell to her blade.