Alvec Snaptail

The group arrived at the stadium with little time to prepare. Alvec ran through his list of defenses. He’d switched up his plans considerably from his standard spell list. A fire spell that attempted to disarm foes, picked as a hopeful counter to the gunmen. An obscuring mist to buy them a little time to close distance without being under fire, and the regular version of the clone duplicate spell. Besides that, the same magic to reduce projectile damage and his usual arcane armor were easy picks for what to cast on himself. He was just about to begin activating his spells when Hoc ran over.

“Alvec! Hey, real quick, can we talk? Have you seen Sarbie? She was scheduled to be making rounds with me again, but I haven’t seen her all morning.”

Alvec frowned and fought not to let concern overtake rationale.

“No, I haven’t seen her, and she didn’t mention anything to me when we departed last night,” Alvec replied.

“They probably just switched her duties,” Hoc said, trying to reassure himself.

“Have you checked in with her parents? Maybe she was sick today,” Alvec suggested.

“Yeah, they said she left for the church today.”

“Alright, well, we’re about to fight. Any second now. I promise to track her down as soon as this is over,” he could send Rem now, but losing even a tiny piece of his kit could be detrimental. It made more sense to send him as soon as they were done here. Though honestly, logic be damned, he was a little concerned about her. If this was somehow related to what he’d asked her to look into... well, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if she got seriously injured or worse due to following up on it. “I will find her as quickly as I can.” He said, reassuring himself this time.

As they heard the announcer call them in, he activated his defensive wards. Standing opposite them was the Red Banner Army. They looked every bit the part of a military outfit. Two pikemen, a cleric, two men equipped with muskets, and Pacta, who seemed as ready as she could be. “Here we have the Red Banner Army’s representatives and the Acolytes of Cheese. Each team has triumphed against the odds to make it this far to what amounts to the semi-finals of this tournament. Whichever team wins today will move on to fight the winner of today's second fight. Best of luck to each team. And go!”

Bait dropped to one knee and fired off two shots at Pacta before anyone else could move. She snatched the bullets out of the air and dropped them to the ground, smiling as she did so. Alvec stepped forward and brought down a thick fog that blocked the entire Red Banner from sight.

Naya dashed into the fog cloud. “Spirits of nature, of the hunt, of blood and fang, I call on you.” Four wolves burst out of the fog and rushed the Red Banner. They split into pairs; the first of each team missed their bites, snapping at the empty air as the pikemen in front dodged. The second wolf in each pair circled around and attacked from behind, both sinking their fangs into their targets. Both shook the legs of the soldiers violently, but failed to bring the hardened men to the ground. A moment later, the fog, which had been Naya’s only protection, vanished unexpectedly as the opposing cleric raised a golden coin to the sky and called out to Kushang. Pacta rushed in and punched at Naya. Her swing went wide as Naya twisted away from her.

Illaria darted in and swung at Pacta. Her blade found its mark, scoring a light wound on her dominant arm.

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“Shit, take out that Cleric; we can’t have him dispelling all our spells,” Mavec shouted. He raised his hand and blasted a bolt of lightning at the man in their backline. Before it struck the man, it dissipated as if passing through an invisible curtain. “Fuck!”

The spearmen and gunman remained where they were momentarily as the four of them dispatched the summoned wolves with brutal efficiency. Echo charged forward, biting at the Cleric. He nearly made contact, but the man slipped a shield between his teeth and held him off.

Bait, seeing how crowded Pacta was, switched targets, shooting at the pikemen on the backline striking them both times. He could tell he’d done some good damage, but they weren’t nearly ready to go down yet. Naya dashed forward, taking a hard punch to the spine from Pacta as she went. A flash of energy coursed from Pacta’s fist through Naya, but she grittered her teeth and shrugged it off. Naya closed the distance on the cleric, swinging hard. Her blade slinked past the shield and cut deep into his shoulder.

Alvec wasted no time following up Naya. Choosing to focus his spell on one of the gunmen. Fire leaped from his hands and onto the gun itself. The man holding it gritted his teeth and endured the pain. Mavec sent another bolt down the line, striking the pikeman and the gunman as he moved to the right, keeping Piquora in front of him.

The cleric bashed Naya; worse, both gunmen unloaded their guns on her. She crumpled to the ground as the pikeman struck Echo. The wolf howled and snapped his jaws onto the cleric in front of him. The man screamed before falling limp to the ground. It was less than an auspicious start. That was the sort of thing Alvec had been afraid of, what would happen if they focused their fire effectively.

Mavec retook aim, blasting more lightning down the line; again, it shimmered as if passing through a veil before striking the gunman and the pikeman. Bait took two shots at Pacta. This time, his bullets found their mark. “Bait got Pacta, Illaria, go take out the other gunman.”

Illaria nodded in agreement and rushed forward. Pacta struck at her as she moved by, but Illaria spun, slicing Pacta’s hand away from her. She reached the backline and landed a crisp blow across the pikeman's chest.

Alvec quickly positioned himself just outside of Pacta’s reach and did his best to triangulate between everyone. He only had one casting of this spell, so it needed to hit as many people as possible. He again accelerated everyone still standing. Echo soon found himself on the receiving end of a spear again and was shot. He looked unsteady on his feet after that. Illaria found a spear aimed at herself as well. She deftly batted the point away and returned with a thrust of her own. The crowd cheered loudly, chants of blue and red ringing out through the stands. In Illaria and this Pikeman, the rivalry between the two armies was personified.

Pacta dashed off and swung hard at Bait. Her fist connected with his face, rocketing his head backward. To her surprise, he bounced back quickly from it. “Damn it, I’ve taken down men thrice your size with that. Is your skull rubber?” she asked him.

“Bait have normal Goblin skull; Goblins have best skulls!” he replied while reloading his musket. Echo meanwhile made two bites at the pikeman, managing to land one solid bite on them before he was bashed down by the same man. The gunman refocused their fire, this time now on Illaria. The guns went off, and she was left barely able to stand. The pikeman swung, and she once more parried the blow, injured as she was, and returned one of her own successfully.

Bait slid backward and fired off two shots, both of which struck Pacta. Alvec moved beside Bait, keeping him well within his protective aura before gathering up an arc of fire and throwing it at her. She dodged most of it, but it still clipped her and singed her shirt. Pacta swung hard at Bait again, her fist sparkling with strange energy. Alvec wrapped his Tail around Bait’s shoulders and pulled him to the side as he moved forward and attempted to intercept with his shield. Pacta was fast and readjusted her strike. The height difference was too much for her to land one on his skull, so her hand thrust at his throat instead. He deflected the blow with his buckler just enough for her to strike him hard in the chest. The energy moved over him and, thankfully, seemed to do nothing.

If he had to guess, she’d tried to stun him, with some strange magic. Either way, he couldn’t afford to lose Bait’s damage, not with Naya, and Echo, down. Not to mention Illaria looking so unwell. Before Illaria could strike again, a single shot brought her down. The pikeman she’d been fighting moved up to assist Pacta with taking down Bait.

It was now three on five.