Known far and wide as the manifold goddess, the bringer of bounty, and the dread mother of monsters, Iasis commands a most-complex and enigmatic reputation. Depending on the land in question, she is held either in deep reverence or vile scorn. Many of the old tales credit the vibrant life of Gesthe to her divine intervention, while others blame her for every ill wind and calamity that has ever befallen the world.

- The Fanciful Travels by Beron de Laney 376 AC.

My remaining enemies advanced upon me, and a lone Tides warrior dismounted and charged at me with a berserker’s scream. This was foolish, for I was Justice made manifest upon this plane.

This was the thought that entered my mind, a thought that was not quite my own. A fanatic’s rage filled me and I deflected a strike from a heavy curved sword and countered with a Power Strike. Then another, and another, and another - in a savage combination. My weapon, a holy tool of divine fury, smashed through the thin platelets of lamellar and crushed through to the bone. The nameless enemy died pathetically, gurgling sweet nothings to the world in his own blood.

You have slain a Human 15 experience gained.

You have learned Flail (lvl.3)

You have learned Maces (lvl.3)

Waving the notifications away, I saw through the haze of my growing fury that my Stamina had dropped precipitously low. It seemed that with rapid use, Power Strike drained far too much of my Stamina. This was the price for using skills in rapid succession.

My Drain continued to leech energy from Tarkhan, and my Stamina began to claw back up in time with each breath I took. The battle was far from done, and only a few seconds later Tarkhan charged me, along with one of his men. The young commander’s youthful features had grown sallow, and fear and desperation haunted his eyes. He engaged me with a weak roar, his strikes slow and filled with fatigue. It stood to reason; his Health, Stamina, and Magic were all but drained. The man was but a light blow away from entering the afterlife and being added to my experience total. However, the soldier at his side, who struck at me with a rounded ball mace, was still relatively fresh. Unlike Tarkhan, he presented to me a completely different proposition.

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They worked in tandem. Tarkhan, slow as he was, acted as a distraction to give the other man openings, and his spear provided the range to fend me off. Fighting against more than one opponent, no matter how weakened one of them was, was exponentially more difficult. To counter them, I had to move my shield constantly, the mace-flail in my other hand providing little in the way of defense.

Even as I fought the pair, the rest of the conflict devolved into a general melee. The combatants had taken the fight inside the ring of wagons. Making a wide sweeping strike, to create space, I broke off from the pair who had been hounding me. Luckily, Tarkan and his partner were cut off by the spears of the guards.

Two fellow guards, near Larynda and Kidu, rushed to their side. I raised my shield to help protect them as we dragged the pair back to the relative safety of the armed and grim-faced womenfolk. Having saved my companions, I returned to the fray with a shout and renewed vigor. Many of the caravan guards would earn a bonus today, I thought wryly to myself as we fought against the remaining enemies.

Then something started in the enemy's ranks, a note of sharp discord that added to the general bedlam. This chord of chaos drew a sliver of my attention, even as I blocked another strike from a round mace.

“Stop this! This is blasphemy. Are you all blind!? The Herald has come! You saw it yourself. He is filled with the light of heaven! I see now—we had been foolish. Who are we to go against her will!?” screamed the red-haired woman, the righteous fervor of a divine epiphany in her voice as she tried to stop her men.

“Silence, Cordelia! What is this foolish talk of following the will of Heaven? I have my own orders from the Cardinal. Interfere with those, and even you will be deemed a heretic to go against his divine word,” shouted Sergeant Mistevan sternly, his voice a deep, angry bark as he parried a guard's spear thrust.

I had to divert my attention away from their exchange as Tarkhan and his lackey fought their way to me. Noticing that I was momentarily distracted, Tarkhan made a last, desperate move and charged me. From his expression, he must have been saving something up, perhaps out of ingrained heroism or sheer spite. The young man lunged desperately at me, his spear seemingly appeared to strike at three places at once. It was impossible to cover all the angles of attack, and one of the spearheads found its mark. The sharp point split through the chainmail links at my thigh, dropping me to one knee and doing twenty points of damage to my Health. It was but a drop in the ocean. My dark magic ate away at the last of his remaining Health, ending his life even as the newly-inflicted wound scabbed over.

Laughing, I rose again on steady feet.

You have slain Tarkhan Aigiam 15 experience gained.