• Mature • [Seasonal Event] Dark Hearts B: Sharp Tongues

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

Kura picked up the dagger she found in the camp and looked it over, but once she was done, she put in a pocked of her coat. If it was the womans, her loved ones deserved to have it, if it wasn't, someone might be able to identify it. Then, while the other looked over body, camp, and shrine, Kura went to check tracks. What she found worried her, this man wasn't worried about being caught or tracked. Either this was an endgame of sorts for him, or he felt he was strong enough to take any pursuers in a fight. The sign that not all of his allies were on board with actions was comforting though.

When they gathered to share what they had found, she reported her findings, then listened to the others report. The woman being Ziell marked was a surprise, but it lessened when Devin mentioned that they were at Ziell's shrine, not Famula's. Evidently, they were in a completely different place than Kura had thought, but now that they knew where they were, she could keep a better head of their surroundings. "There are ways to hide writing. The journal might come in handy later." she said, her tone intent, when the journal was mentioned. The second camp was a surprise, as was the bedroll for two. "So where's the other keeper..." she muttered, before looking back towards where the vomit had been. Possibly, that hadn't come from a follower at all, but rather from the other keeper.

Then the island shook from some deep force, the ground around them undulating. Something had gone very wrong somewhere, and she growled. It didn't matter, ultimately, she still had a job to do, but when Devin panicked, she grabbed his coat. "Devin! The sighs didn't land, and they won't know where to look for us, if they are even looking for us. Where are you running, the docks? Those are those black sailed ships and I wouldn't recommend it." she said, taking off her helmet as she spoke.

She started braiding her hair in a quick, loose braid, more to keep it under control than any other need. "If you want to run, go ahead, I won't stop you. But I'm not, I've still got a job to do. Head north, around the mountain. Once you get by it, head east. You'll find a bridge, on the far side is a shrine to U'Frek, their might be some sort of sea transportation there. It's your best bet." she said, before putting her helmet back on. "As for our surroundings, I suggest we get out of here. There's nothing to be gained by being still any more." she said, before looking at Rowan. "Come with me, go with him, or go on your own, it's up to you. But I'm going after the man who did this." she said, her tone firm. And whether alone or with another, Kura would follow the trail she had found.

[Rowan]

The corpse wasn't something that he allowed his attention to linger on but that didn't mean that he didn't see the bruising around her wrists. It was quite distinct, showing where she'd been held down. It made him ill, the young man unable to get her image out of his head even when he did go to check her camp. However, the scene presented a good distraction. There was something off about it, something about the way things were placed. It looked as if it had been there for some time based on the way things had spread out but on closer inspection, it didn't look organic enough.It was like no one had actually stayed there at all. That didn't seem to fit at all. It was like... someone had set it up on purpose.

When he moved around, searching more thoroughly, he discovered another camp, a more legitimate looking camp and what was more, someone had gone to the effort to try to cover it up. That was odd, very odd. Someone had taken the time to try to hide this and set up a fake camp but he had no idea why. Had whoever had done this expected someone to come looking? Or had the victim herself done it? The bedroll he found seemed big enough for two and there didn't seem to be a second corpse around - unless they hadn't found it yet - and so it seemed that someone had tried to hide the evidence of a second person's presence. It was information that he should bring back to the others, tell them about the unusual things he'd spotted.

Unfortunately, when he did meet up with another member of his group, Devin decided to be weird, really weird. "Whether she minds or not, it doesn't matter. It's just... not appropriate right now. You could have waited until after this was over. You would have seen me once this was over. Unless one or both of us was dead of course. It wouldn't much matter then though," he remarked darkly, running a hand through his hair and wiggling a little uncomfortably on the spot. By Syroa, if he didn't know better, he'd think that something had bitten him on the behind. However, the young man was prone to developing small rashes for no good reason. Presumably he reacted to something but he was never able to determine what. But Seven, it was itchy!

When Kura rejoined them, he placed his hands behind his back, letting one move lower so he could scratch his bottom discreetly, or what he hoped was discreetly. While he was doing that, things were moving on and his opportunity to discuss his findings was probably about to pass so he was quick to get his say in, discreet scratching be damned!

"I found out that her camp isn't actually her camp. I don't know who set it up but it's a cover up. There's another camp, a real one, and someone obviously tried to cover it up. I don't know if it was the culprit or this woman herself but... there was a bedroll there. For two," he explained. He frowned, wondering about the various pieces of information that they'd gathered and mentally trying to put them together. The island beginning to shake soon put a dampener on that though. The movement of the ground under his feet reminded him of being on boats and instead of making a run for it, either forwards or back, the young man merely froze.

Devin had his panic while Rowan merely stood there, undecided and unwilling to allow the man to touch him to drag him away. Instead, he tugged his hand back, staggering away from the man and looking to Kura as she explained the situation. Her words made sense. If they tried to go back, where could they go? Into more trouble most likely rather than into safety. It didn't look like there was much choice in the matter. They could run back the way they'd come or go forward but either way, he didn't trust this situation. There was something hinky here and so he was inclined to go slowly, preferably towards the middle. He couldn't see any way that they could survive so the least they could do was try to fix things.

"I think... Kura has a point. I'll go with her. In terms of speed, it is imperative that we are as careful as possible. I think we should take it slowly, even if the island does seem like it might shake apart. Whoever's ahead of us, they don't have problems with killing people and if we run after them, we could get ourselves killed before we can do any good," he commented, sighing as he rubbed at the back of his neck. "As it is, I don't think running away will help anyone, especially ourselves. Where are we going to run to after all? No, I'll press on. I'm probably dead either way," he added, voice cracking, betraying the terror he felt at the idea. Rowan didn't want to die, of course he didn't, but the whole situation seemed hopeless.

Regardless of his fear, he would follow Kura. If there was a chance of survival, he suspected that it was with her.

[Pegasus]

Listen as the syllables of slaughter cut with calm precision
Patterned frosty phrases rape your ears and sow the ice incision
Apocalyptic alphabet casting spell the creed of tempered diction
Adjectives of annihilation bury the point beyond redemption
Venomous verbs of ruthless candour plagiarise assassins fervour

Fugazi watched them, the ragtag bunch and as Devin screamed the word run, ruining any semblance they had of quiet or secrecy. Also, of course, alerting everyone around to them and they were bigger fools than he thought if they considered themselves alone.

So, he smiled.

Devin decided that they should run - Kura, however, decided that she most certainly was not doing any such thing. Fugazi had known that she wouldn't. A woman of such beauty as her, such grace and with blood which he could drain from her - the Beast would like it. He preferred his brides without blood - it preserved them longer.

And this one? This one was worthy of preservation.

He could smell her.

Soon, he would taste her.

82nd Ymiden, 718

So, there was dissent in the group - Devin was for running, Kura was not. Rowan teamed up with Kura and the two of them continued forward. This left a choice for Devin. The rest of the group were not listening to him - even though he screamed his directive to them! So, he could maintain his integrity and decision, or he could break his own rule.

Whichever he did, there would be consequences.

Going with them would mean going into danger. Running from here, leaving this place? Well, Kura was right that there might be no way off the island, but she was also right that the bridge by U'frek's shrine was his best bet. That made sense. Which would he do...? The island shook and the group began to move.

They knew of the clues they had and, from his hidden spot, Fugazi was observing. Kura, the dark haired beauty who would soon be his thrall, he thought - maybe even a stoneheart, preserved for all eternity in adoration of him - she held the dagger which he had given to his last love. How fitting. How apt.

And the island shook and Fugazi lifted his arms, whispering his words to the elements around him. Earth was his most precious, of course. The dark and dank earth where the dead rotted was his partner, his love, his to adore and to worship him.

Cautious they were, and that gave him - and his people - time to prepare. Immortals' Tongue was a place with many hidden areas, but the group moved forward and they got to the ruins more or less in the middle of the island. There, on a small hill stood a man. Flashes of red light, like lightning flashing, swirled all around him. The ground they walked on seemed to undulate and around him were five people, each with crossbows. Pointing at those who were here.

Devin, however, had run off on his own. Was this a sensible thing to do? Possibly, possibly not. He made his way alone, determined that he wasn't going to die here and yet he wondered whether this was the right decision.

His skills in detection were not enough to notice the three of them following him. It wasn't until he heard what was a deliberate snapping of a twig behind him that he got to see, and there - should he turn around at the noise - were three men. Each one of them large, burly and strong, and each with a longsword. One, the middle one of the three, also had a bow. The tallest one, with dark hair and skin spoke. "Stop and drop your weapons, or we kill you."........

Now, they were far enough away that Devin had options. It would be a difficult shot for the chap with the crossbow, and Devin could run away, towards, whatever. Or he could charm or con his way out of things.

Or, they could shoot him. Always an option.

Consequences This Round!

Positive
Did do!! Unlocked: Devin, Kura and Rowan met their objectives. Reward at the end
Extra! Extra! All pcs met their "can do" objectives! Reward at the end.

Unknown
Against the flow!; Devin seems to want to move in a different direction than the rest of the group. Who's right? Who knows?

Map

Map of Immortals' Tonge

► Show Spoiler

NPC

Your opponent is: Fugazi
At the moment, you know the following about him:

• He is not a very nice man

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	Apologies for the delay! I will post again on the 15th July No posting order. Going with a three strikes and you're out Alexis has left the group Please don't control the NPCs. Have fun! PM me if there's a question.

Objectives

!

Message from: Group Objectives

Please split your post into two parts. Before you see the group of attackers and after. Before: is freeform, up to you. After: Kura and Rowan have ONE action. Because of his distance, Devin has TWO. The following things count as actions: - dropping a weapon - drawing a weapon - using a mark ability - casting a spell. You must write ONLY ONE action. Things like thinking are free and you have as many words as you can fit in to 10 seconds of time. You have one STROKE OF LUCK held over. I did not use it in this post, but you never know when you might need it!

[Devin]

Devin ran and ran and ran, as fast as he could, barely paying any attention to what was behind him (or next to him, for that matter). He wanted to reach the shrine of U’frek and leave that cursed island. There was nothing there for him. There were no treasures and no exciting adventures, but just earthquakes and other catastrophes that tended to kill people very quickly. He felt a bit bad about leaving Rowan behind, to be honest, but he could always find Rynata another man. There were probably a few hundred blonde and blue-eyed guys in Scalvoris Town alone. Maybe he’d hook her up with Tio instead. That would be absolutely hilarious!

~~~

As he heard a twig snap, he froze for a moment before he quickly spun around and stared at the three men wide-eyed. His heart skipped a bit. No, it didn’t just skip a beat, it stopped beating completely for a bit, and he couldn’t breathe very well either. This was not good. In fact, it was an absolute catastrophe. He’d managed to run straight into the bad guys again. It was just like in Viden, where he had nearly gotten eaten by the cannibal Vega and her companion Arlo, the Prince of Eternal Darkness who didn’t have a last name.

On the other hand, if he played his cards right and didn’t lose his composure now, it might also constitute a unique opportunity for him to increase his wealth and his influence, he realized – he’d already given up on that after the earth had begun to shake and Kura and Rowan had gone in a different direction – although the three men seemed a bit daft, to be honest, which was unfortunately often the case with those muscular warrior types.

They wanted him to drop his weapons. He wasn’t holding any! He didn’t have multiple weapons either (they had used the plural for some reason), but just a single short sword that was still in its sheath at his belt because he had forgotten to draw it. They seemed to have a short temper as well, and they were pretty tense. For that reason, he told them, “Relax, gentlemen!” He quickly undid his belt and dropped it, complete with sword and sheath. At the same time, he informed them in the most confident and convincing tone that he was capable of, “I 've come to join you. I’m your friend!” and smiled at them.

He was a masterful liar. He had successfully convinced Rynata that it would rain blood, and he had told Genuvah that he would become King Cassander’s new court jester. Besides, the potion that he had drunk on the last trial of Ashan was still active (Perfection In A Bottle, it had given him a beautiful and perfect voice). Surely, they wouldn’t say no to a man that sounded like that, would they? How hard could it possibly be?

[Rowan]

Devin had left them, run madly in fact off in the direction that Kura had indicated and although Rowan's decision had been made, he wondered if he ought to have gone with him. However, he had decided his course of action and even if he was uncertain, he was committed now. So he shoved his hands in his pockets, remaining on the alert as he walked, peering around them as they moved forward cautiously, aiming for the interior of the island and the ruins that lay there. The young man did wonder if he'd made the right decision about how to proceed. Perhaps hurrying would have been better or perhaps they would have lost the element of surprise. Given the scream that Devin had let loose though, the blond was worried that the element of surprise was gone; it was the sort of sound that carried.

While they walked, he considered talking to the woman he was accompanying, but in truth, he didn't know what to say to her. What sort of conversation could he have? Oh, nice trial to die, aye? Was he supposed to ask what she thought was ahead? He doubted that it'd make much difference; speculating about the future wouldn't achieve anything after all beyond killing a bit of time. The young man tried to stop himself from dwelling on what might happen and instead did his best to keep himself in the present moment, entirely focused on the here and now of their surroundings.

He fingered the combat knife sheathed at his waist, wondering how much use it'd be. If somebody came at him empty-handed then he might stand a chance or if he had to kill someone stealthily but the latter made him uncomfortable. If it was a hand-to-hand tussle, a kill-or-be-killed situation then he thought he'd have the stomach for it but to kill someone who wasn't even aware of his existence? No, that was a possibility that creeped him out. Honestly, he didn't much want to dwell on that either so his touch on the weapon was uneasy.

When they reached the ruins, Rowan spotted the man on the little hill, the red light seeming to signal that he was a mage. That instantly made him feel nervous but the five crossbow wielders ranged around him? Well, they made him doubt they'd get out of this alive and doubt that they could make much of a difference after all.

"Shit!" he hissed, gaze flicking to Kura. He could draw his knife but he might as well wave at the people on the hill for all the good it'd do; they'd shoot him dead before he could do anything. Instead of doing anything aggressive - which seemed useless - he slowly raised his hands. "We come in peace?"

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

When Devin took off running, Kura just rolled her eyes and pulled her bow from her quiver and put an arrow to the string. There would be no telling when they would run into trouble anymore, if their prey had the same reaction Devin did. Somehow, she doubted they would however. It was almost never that easy, and if it was that easy, they wouldn't need people like her for the job. "Thank's for sticking around, Rowan. Keep cautious." she said, as they headed deeper into the Immortals Tongue. Still, she hadn't expected to walk right into an ambush, the chaotic nature of the island evidently messing with her and Phelan's tracking powers. Or maybe she should learn to stop relying on supernatural powers for her tracking.

Five people with crossbows, one on top that looked unarmed, but probably wouldn't be. They never were, after all. "Oh please. This already better odds than I had the last time someone tried to kill me." she said, her tone almost bored. She was getting really tired of having to deal with the rabble up close and personal. Of course, the moment she had seen the crossbows, she had begun to charge Multi-Shot. Fortunately, there were only five this time. Unfortunately, despite her arrogant dismissal of them, she knew that this bunch of suicidal morons were at least more prepared for a fight than the cultists had been.

Phelan, meanwhile, shared Kura's distaste for fair play. The black wolf had been skulking around the group, as opposed to roving ahead, and when the crossbowmen appeared, he had turned invisible. Now, he went behind the group. He thought about attacking the unarmed man directly, but that one was either really stupid or prepared. Instead, he got himself behind the group and as high as he could. Then, he turned solid and howled his loud, hopefully distracting song before he lept down to attack, snarling and growling.

[Pegasus]

A friend in need is a friend that bleeds
Let bitter silence infect the wound
You were a sentimental mercenary in a free fire zone
Parading a Rynmere conscience
You were a fashionable objector with a uniform fetish
Pavlovian slaver at the shop door bell of success
A non com observer - I assassin the collector - defector

As a child, he had known that he would be a great man, Fugazi recalled. It had been an inevitability to him, as had been that he would kill his tormentors. He had, of course, and they had wanted to 'help' him, afterwards. Yet he had not wanted help, at least not the kind they would give. He wanted to be left alone to experiment on the bodies, but no. No, they had taken him and locked him in a clean, isolated place. Because his parents were wealthy, he knew.

When he had finally killed them he had seen the relief on their faces. Seen the way in which they had died. He had been able to know that he, Fugazi, had freed them from the shackles of mortality. As he had ripped their souls from them, as he had feasted on their lives, he had done so knowing that they were grateful. Grateful to him.

And finally, they were proud.

Just like this woman would be proud. Proud to be his wife, he knew. She looked so like his mother. His skills in his magic had grown so much since the death of his parents and now he would be able to preserve this woman in his mother's honour. She would stand at his side and together?

Together they would watch the world burn.

82nd Ymiden, 718

And so there were now two groups. In running from the others, and in making the decision to not go with him, Kura and Devin had decided to weaken the group. Their reasons, of course, were motivated entirely differently yet still the group was smaller. Devin chose to be by himself and whether that was a good idea or not very much remained to be seen.

Very much. Kura and Rowan continued to move. Kura was right to question how it was that she had not known he was there - it was certainly suspicious and, should she question or consider it, Phelan would tell her that there was not a scent to them. Nothing. He could see them, now, but they weren't there to his sharp nose. Like, a chameleon effect but for the sense of smell.

Hmmm.

Now, the issue that they had was the three of them - begging Phelan's pardon for the moment - were doing entirely different things. Devin was running, Rowan was surrendering and Kura was attacking. This did not bode well as far as outcomes were concerned. Teamwork, after all, was likely their best bet. Would "we come in peace" have worked? Well, they were never finding out. Kura moved, Phelan moved and Rowan did not move. Meanwhile, as Kura and Phelan attacked and Rowan raised his hands, Devin had encountered a number of Not Very Nice People. He turned his charm on them, though and it had to be said that he was very good at playing the role. They paused, just for a few moments and seemed to consider. Muttering between themselves, time seemed to hang in the balance as they decided Devin's fate.....
The men with the crossbows fired. It was what they were always going to do, after all. Rowan was the focus of three of them, as Fugazi had left word that Kura wasn't to be damaged... too much. However, by a stroke of luck two of them aiming at him were the front line of Phelan's attack. One was taken down by the snarling wolf and the other turned to look. That meant that Rowan only took one bolt, and that was through the hand. That too was lucky in a way as his raised hand took the bolt which had been aimed at his throat. Still, he had a crossbow bolt pierce his hand and then exit from it. It was agonising.

The other two fired at Kura but they too suffered from the same stroke of luck which had saved Rowan - namely the distraction of an invisible wolf suddenly becoming visible. Nonetheless, one of the bolds embedded deeply in the shoulder of her masterwork leather armour - a shot which undoubtedly would have completely immobilized her were she not wearing it. The other one scraped across her leg, bouncing off.

It took a few seconds for them to reload crossbows, and in that moment the two could act. Kura's ability was charged, her wolf had killed (or seriously hindered) one of the men, but was causing distraction and that was good. He was already moving on to the next one, after all.

Fugazi, too, seemed to be acting and the red swirling around him began to intensify. "Alright, then," one of the men said to Devin, cautiously. "You've come to join us, you say. Then tell us this." They were pleased with themselves for having thought of such a clever thing, Devin knew. There'd been some back patting and lots of nods in their whispered conversation.

"What are we doing and why?" The man asked and then another of them piped up from behind. "And why do you wanna be involved?"

Consequences This Round!

Unknown
Against the flow 2; Devin is making friends. Or is he?

Map

Map of Immortals' Tonge

► Show Spoiler

NPC

Your opponent is: Fugazi
At the moment, you know the following about him:

• He is not a very nice man

OOC Info

!	Message from: Pegasus
	I will post again on the 22nd July No posting order. Going with a three strikes and you're out Please don't control the NPCs. Have fun! PM me if there's a question.

Objectives

!

Message from: Group Objectives

You are in a state of COMBAT (unless you're Devin. You're in a state of chatting, but no less dangerous!) Kura and Rowan You have twelve seconds of action. Please keep in mind any injuries you have sustained and be aware that you are in a situation of extreme danger. Devin: What happens to you will very much depend on how you answer their questions. Be as concise or verbose as you choose, but if you Say The Wrong Thing then they will react and that might retcon from that part on in your post. I used your STROKE OF LUCK. It felt appropriate!!

[Devin]

While the bad guys whispered among themselves, either because they were so glad to have gotten another recruit or they were discussing how exactly they would torture him to death, Devin stood there, arms crossed over his chest and holding himself completely straight. He knew that it would be a very bad idea if he showed too much fear right now even though a part of him just wanted to scream. He would be like Alexander Hawthorne, the secret agent, one of his most successful roles so far – until Vega and Arlo had come along. He would remain utterly calm – for the time being, at least.

Another man might at least have worried slightly about the fate of his companions, but Devin just couldn’t bring himself to caring about them anymore. And neither did he care that he was about to ally himself with the bad guys. Kura and Rowan would die, and he would live, and that was what really mattered. He was only twenty-two. He wasn’t ready to die yet. He wouldn’t become a foot note in the annals of history, somebody that would be mourned for a couple of trials, at best, and then forgotten by all of Idalos.

When they asked their question, he had to keep himself from laughing. They apparently thought themselves very clever. Well, they weren’t. They’d left signs of their activities all over the Island. If they had wanted to make it hard for him to guess what they were up to, they should have removed the corpse of that woman. Secrecy, he decided, was definitely not their forte. Maybe he’d teach them how to be better villains sometimes, he thought.

“You are killing all the Blessed”, he replied confidently – because it was kind of obvious. “Because you hate the Immortals. You want to destroy Immortal’s Tongue – and then Scalvoris, and you want to see the world burn. Well, so do I. I’ve been wronged too many times, and I just cannot stand it anymore. I’ve been looking for a group of like-minded individuals for a while now”, he lied. “When I heard what was happening, I knew that I had to come here. I want to join you – and your master”, he added because it was kind of obvious that these guys were not in charge. They barely had two intact brain cells between them – which didn’t mean that he would underestimate them completely of course. They still had their weapons. Idiots with weapons could be very dangerous.

“I want to help you. You’ll need help if you want to reach your goals. They are trying to stop you, you know?” he pointed out, referring to his unfortunate companions’ activities. “I’ll do whatever you say, and I’ll offer you my utmost loyalty”, he told them, mostly because loyalty was always an issue, especially when you were one of the bad guys. He knew that from experience. He didn’t always trust people either.

“Will you let me join you?” he asked.

[Kura Wolfsdotter]

There were times when Kura wondered what she might have done differently so as to avoid having people trying to kill her so often. Frankly, it was far more frequent an occurrence than she would have liked. But, she always came to the same conclusion, that if doing what she believed in made people decide they had a need to kill her, well, that was the price to be paid. That being said, none of these moments of introspection came during the times people were trying to kill her, not at all. In those times, her train of thought was much more clear. Kill them fast, kill them efficiently, and worry about everything else when they're dead.

So, sadly, she wasn't particularly surprised when the archers opened fire, though she was surprised more of them focused on Rowan than on her. However, she was grateful for the lack of damage she sustained, though the bolt lodged in her shoulder armor would mess with the join movement there. Easy fix, though, as she just turned her head and grabbed the bolt with her teeth, giving her head a sharp jerk and pulling it out before spitting the bolt out and letting it fall to the ground. Fortunately, it hadn't penetrated her armor, so it was of minimal impact.

Raising her bow, Kura took only a second to aim before she let loose, the arrow bursting with divine power as an additional ten arrows formed around it. One who was...less informed as to supernatural combat would have probably guessed she was aiming for the archers. They would be wrong, Phelan and the fringe arrows would deal with them. Kura had, however, aimed at the man with the swirling red energy who was very clearly dangerous. The moment the first arrow had been launched, Kura drew a second and drew back on the string, waiting for results. The whole process took only twelve seconds.

As for Phelan, he was quite happy to maul and savage archers at a whim, aiming for unguarded tendons in legs and arms, assuming he couldn't find a throat readily available to his fangs. In the unlikely event he managed to kill all the archers in 12 seconds, he'd turn his attention to the man with no scent and all the red swirlies. He knew he was best suited to keeping the groundlings distracted though, while Kura and Rowan, if the latter was able, dealt with the real threat.

[Rowan]

There was something about his limbs that seemed to attract danger. Crawling had gotten most of his leg chopped off and now sticking his arms in the air had resulted in a bolt through his hand. Not that he was thinking about the unfortunate similarities between this and previous situations because his first reaction was to scream, the sound no doubt unexpectedly shrill given his appearance. The agony of it made him cradle his injured hand instinctively, resting it in his uninjured hand and holding it to his chest as he sought the culprit, pain mixing with animal fury. Rowan had been in many fights, albeit typically with nothing to worry about but fists and feet aimed in his direction rather than crossbows. The point was that the young man had taken a lot of knocks in his time, suffered a lot of hurts so that his endurance wasn't entirely rock bottom when it came to this sort of thing. Pain, adrenaline and temper tended to go hand-in-hand where the blond was concerned though so that although he wanted to trap the pain against his chest, squash it out altogether, he also had the instinct to deal out pain in return.

Rowan only had a knife but with his uninjured hand, he fumbled for it, drawing it out as tears of pain streamed down his cheeks, moving forward with an infuriated roar. By Syroa, he wanted to rip someone's head off but he'd settle for taking away flesh, drawing blood and have the ground drink it up as was now happening with his own injury.

"Sarding bastard!" he snarled, hurtling towards the nearest crossbow wielder with the blade aimed low, held at a point a bit higher than his hip as he was ready to aim for the other's belly, to rip and disembowel. He had no illusions of how well he could use a knife, which was not at all; he wasn't thinking though because he was working on pained fury. His real goal was to slam the shoulder that ended in his wounded hand into the man's chest and drive the knife forward as an afterthought. Really, he wanted him on the ground so he could get on top of him and really deal out pain. Unfortunately, he was as liable to injure or even kill himself in the process.