"...they've been...taken..." was the faint whisper of the Augur.
The healing Nina used on him worked, however it was clear he hadn't gained all his strength back. The group listened intensively as the Augur spoke.
"Asray...the villagers..."
"Where have they been taken?" asked Sarah with a soft tone of voice. No response. "...is he..."
Nina shook her head no.
"He'll need to rest" said Albert. "We could start looking for tracks, maybe that will lead us to-"
HISSSS
The group looks up and turns to see a band of Lizard Men, accompanied by 3 Lizard Knights.
"Warriorssss" exclaimed one of the knights "We cannot bring them back, we musssst disposssse of them!"
The group of Lizards then roared and started charging towards our three warriors. Roll for initiative (just kidding :D ).
Albert raises his shield and sword. Sarah readies a spell. She was very surprised by how combat ready she was. Sarah excelled at many things during her studies in the cloister, including combat training. Her own calmness in battle seemed strange; she didn't know how she refined such strong nerves for life threatening situations. Perhaps it was because she somehow knew that everything was under control, that her life truly was not in danger in any of those situations she came across within this recent time period.
Whether that was due to her unwavering skill, or the faint presence of a higher power, Sarah could not tell. This tranquility however, would soon be disrupted as Nina dashed in front of her and Albert with a motionless blur (as if that makes sense, cause it might not). This somewhat shocked Sarah and Albert, as they were only preparing themselves, whereas Nina was already mobilized. With her whip in one hand, Nina quickly raised her off hand and opened her palm towards the rushing Lizards. A crimson red aura emanated from her hand, and in the distance, one could see what her blood spell wrought.
A Lizard Knight suddenly swelled up disproportionately twice its size, then erupted in a shower of its own blood like a bubble bursting with its soapy insides after being popped out of the air. Sarah's once felt peace was no more, as she gasped and felt a sickening feeling grip her insides. One of the Lizard Men reached Nina and swung its claw blades above her head. Without a moments notice, Nina quickly dodged to her left effortlessly and unraveled her blood whip. It also glowed a blood red that only Segnales are accustomed to. With only a flick of the wrist, her weapon would have rent (past tense of rend) her attacker into bloody ribbons, were it not for Albert charging in and using his shield shove skill to knock the Lizard Man off its feet, flying into the other lizards.
"Attack the knights! They are subjugating these Lizards. If we kill the knights, the Lizard Men won't fight us!" Albert yelled as he turned to face the other lizards, taunting them away from our femme fatales, shouting "COME AT ME BRO!"
This jolted Sarah out of her queasy state and got her back into the fight. Albert's compassion inspired her and probably frustrated Nina, who did not think sparing the lives of these manipulated lizards was worth any effort. She wouldn't show it of course, as she was instructed to follow, and turned her blood red gaze toward the two remaining Lizard Knights. Sarah hastily began a long ranged spell. It had to be a lower level spell, for most of her magic had an area of effect that would harm the other lizards. Energy jab followed up with an ice bolt would procure the desired outcome; the death of the lizard knight! Toom as the energy jab went out and struck the Lizard Knight as it yelled it pain. There would be no recompense for the suffering lizard, as an icicle the size of a spear zipped out and impaled the Lizard Knight. There was no cry of pain or agony, just an exhale of utter despair as the knight fell to the ground, searching for some sort of meaning in its short lived life.
Death by impalement must be a theme here, as Nina used her dread nail skill, summoning curse infused spikes that lashed out and skewered the remaining Lizard Knight like a bag of flesh and blood hanging on a shish kebob. Just as Albert said, the controlling effect of the Lizard Knights lifted off of the other Lizard Men, as if they awakened from a prolonged aggressive stupor. Albert walked to one that was sitting on the ground, and helped it up to its feet.
"Thank you" the lizard said with much intelligence and sentience in its voice. "The villagers have been taken to a nearby cave..."
Tune in next time!
