Under the Overgrowth (Alegretto)

[DaGlobster]

Herrick wrestled his arm free from Headbiter's now loosened iron grasp, and slashed at what he hoped was Headbiter's throat. Cheesecutter grazed against Headbiter's neck-guard, and stabbed through his cheek, prompting a howl of pain. Herrick pushed the blade outwards, leaving Headbiter's lower jaw hanging from his head by one side, and stabbed downwards, into his collarbone. the massive orc reached behind him, grabbed Herrick by the hood, and pulled him off, holding him in front of him. Herrick was quick to respond by shoving his rapier into Headbiter's elbow, and slashing at the tendons holding his jaw up. Headbiter let go, and his howls turned into gurgles as his lower jaw came off and landed in the mud with a wet plop.

Headbiter let him go, and Herrick rolled away, pulling a spherical object off of his belt. "FLASH!" He yelled, pulling down a pair of smoked glass goggles and tossing it against the ground. It released a brilliant white flash, blinding all the hostiles, and hopefully not Phintil. Regardless, Herrick rolled over to Phintil, took him by an arm, and started sprinting down the same way they came

[Alegretto]

Phintil was in trouble. He could fight multiple opponents, sure, but there were at least six bandits surrounding him. He was about to get overwhelmed when a massive flash of blinding light froze all movement in the immediate vicinity.

He tried to blink his eyes clear, but the white in his view wouldn't go away. Suddenly, he felt something holding his arm, and pulling him in one direction. He almost flipped out, but it wasn't like he was being stabbed or anything, so maybe it was better to just go with it.

He let the hold lead him out of the circle of blinded bandits, and they were soon running. Phintil hoped that Herrick was the one holding his arm, and that they were heading to an exit. Best to confirm it. "Herrick," he said, "is that you holding my arm. Was that your flash magic?"

[DaGlobster]

"Magic? No. Good old fashioned flash bomb? yeah!" He exclaimed as he pulled Phintil along. Another crossbow bolt grazed his leg, and he stumbled slightly before resuming his sprint. "I think Headbiter's done for. No way he's not going to bleed out after all we di-"

Herrick's speech was cut out by a rage-filled bellow, and Herrick turned his head. "Oh, fuck me! Go faster, Phintil!" He yelled, and he pushed himself to go faster. Behind them, a profusely bleeding and fury-filled Headbiter was chasing them, frothing at the mouth (or whatever was left of it). Herrick prepared a throwing knife, and tossed it behind them. The knife found its mark inside a chink in Headbiter's knee armor, and the massive orc fell over. They were almost at the gates, they just needed a little bit more. Crossbow bolts peppered the air around them, another bolt sticking itself into Herrick, this time in his arm. He released another hoarse yell.

[Alegretto]

Phintil was reassured to hear Herrick's voice. He followed the guiding arm as best he could as they ran, and he accelerated after he heard his allies supplication, and after he heard the roar of what must have been Headbiter.

The first bolt took him in the shoulder, though his armored scales kept it from going in too far. It was annoying, but he could ignore. Than two more struck him in the lower back. One of them grazed but the other stuck.

The pain, however, helped him clear his vision. He could see again, well enough to see that they were close to the gate. He heard Herrick yell, saw the bolts in him, so he ran ahead and shoved the door open with a slam. He ran outside and yelled, "C'mon!" back to Herrick. As soon as his ally would clear the gate, he'd have it shut.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick sprinted past Phintil, a few crossbow bolts and arrows narrowly missing him again as he dove out of the door. When Phintil closed it behind them, he didn't stop. He reached down to a pouch in his bandolier, and produced another flash bomb, and continued sprinting towards the forest. Some bandits with bows emerged on the palisade, and he raised his arm. "Don't look back, Phintil!" He yelled, and he threw the bomb. It struck one of the guards plain in the face, prompting him to fall down screaming as his sight was permanently taken away from him. The others covered their eyes and stumbled around. Some fell off the palisade , others merely fell over as  they bumped into their compatriots.

Once he crossed into the forest, he fell over, his breathing hoarse and ragged. "I...hate...orcs..." He muttered, and pulled himself up to a seated position. "We can only rest for a moment. They'll be out looking for us soon enough..." He said, nursing his arm, which still featured a crossbow bolt in it. Another poked out of his lower shoulder, and there was apparently an arrow in his thigh. He hadn't noticed that one through all the adrenaline.

"You ever pulled an arrow before?" He asked, propping himself up against a tree, the very same tree he waited for Phintil in.

[Alegretto]

As soon as he had the gate shut behind Herrick, Phintil was racing after the man into the forest. He slipped his axes into their loops and considered going down on all fours to move at full speed, but he didn't want to outstrip his ally, so he chose instead to run on two legs.

He heard Herrick's call to not look back, which of course gave him a strong urge to turn around and see what he was talking about, but he managed to restrain himself. When the flash bomb went off, the lizardman could see the light of it in the corner of his eyes, even though he was facing away from it. He was glad he hadn't looked back.

He kept running until Herrick stopped, at which point he ceased his movement as well. The adrenaline of the last few minutes suddenly left him, and he fell to sitting position on the forest floor at about the same time his ally did. He wasn't physically exhausted, but the mental strain of the battle was hitting him.

While Herrick spoke, Phintil took inventory of his wounds. Two crossbow bolts that had stuck and a variety of nicks and scratches from those that hadn't. He realized that he'd involuntarily raised his frill without noticing it, and that he was shaking. He took several deep breathes to recover himself, but he managed to get his pounding heart under control. It was at that point that he realized that Herrick was looking at him as if waiting for a response.

He went over his memory of the last few seconds, looking for Herrick's question. It took him a moment to pull it out of his memory, but he got it. "I have, from myself and others." he told his ally. "Are any of yours through and through? We need to know what the head's look like before we know whether to pull them out or push them through."

[DaGlobster]

Herrick lifted his arm, looking at the crossbow bolt that went clean through his forearm, missing the bone and only piercing muscle. "Bolts are standard...arrow's..." He trailed off, pausing to wince in pain. "Arrow's a broadhead. I've been hit by them before, I know how they feel." he said, and leaned back against the tree, being careful not to bump it against the trunk. He pulled his pistol off of his belt, and started loading it. He loaded a cartridge in the front, ramming it down the barrel, and then poured the powder into a hole in the back. He sealed the powder chamber with a specialized clasp, and returned the pistol to his belt.

"Normally, I'd pull them myself, but it's always better to have someone else do it. You pull mine, I'll pull yours..." He suggested, and peered around the tree. He was answered by an arrow embedding itself in the trunk of the tree. The bandits had taken up positions on the palisade, and were opening fire on them. The tree was just wide enough to protect them if they didn't try to move around, but some bandits had better angles than others. Herrick leaned out and aimed with his pistol, the resulting shot shearing a bandit's arm clean off his body. " If you can hold on for a bit longer, just get the arrow in my leg. We need to start moving!" He yelled, and started reloading again, this time loading a clear bullet with a milky white substance in it.

[Alegretto]

Phintil moved to inspect Herrick's assorted wounds as the man spoke and armed his weapon. He couldn't get a good look at the bolt in his ally's busy arm, so he instead knelt down and turned his attention to the arrow imbedded in the man's leg. It looked like it wasn't all they way through, which left Phintil with two options. He could punch the arrow out the other end and then break it in half, or he could try to pull the thing out.

The first choice would cause more blood loss, and it might take longer too. The arrow that thudded into the tree they had moved behind told him that they didn't have much time. Herrick's words to only tend to the projectile in his thigh heightened that sense. He moved fast, before his nerves could catch up to him, and wrapped two of his fingers around the arrow's shaft.

It was tricky to get a good grip on it without cutting it with his claws, but he managed to wrap it tightly and start pulling. He yanked slowly and delicately, even though he knew that it must be causing Herrick huge amounts of pain. Things would be even worse if the head broke off in his ally's leg.

Slowly... carefully... slowly... there! With one last tug the projectile came free. He breathed a sight of relief. It looked like the whole head was still on the arrow, though he couldn't be sure if a piece of it hadn't broken off. Still, enough time to worry about that later.

"C'mon Herrick. It's out, time to go." He stood up, keeping the tree between himself and their enemies as best he could, and peeked around the corner. He saw at least six bandits chasing after them, and they weren't too far away. He pulled his head away to face Herrick. "They're coming. We need to get out of range of the palisade."

[DaGlobster]

Herrick paused in the loading of his pistol to bite back the pain. Quickly, he took one of his leather gloves off of his hand and stuffed it into his mouth, knowing the value of having something to bite down on during field surgery. It seemed with every centimeter the arrow went out of his leg, it felt like five more were being put in. When the arrow was finally out, he gasped with relief, nearly going limp against the tree as he breathed out. He spat his glove out, and put it back in his hand. When Phintil said it was time to go, he nodded, and got up on his feet. He switched the pistol to his other arm,  and aimed it behind the tree.

When he pulled the trigger, a massive, billowing cloud of white smoke erupted out of it. "Go!" He yelled. Arrows and bolts flew in from the camp's direction, but none of them could even hope to hit, now that there was a smoke cloud in the way.

[Alegretto]

Phintil was going to take off as soon as Herrick stood, but something about the man's purposeful movements made him stop. Maybe he was going to do something?

The lizardman was not disappointed. The cloud of smoke form the odd bullet made perfect cover, and he burst into movement as soon as Herrick said "go." It rankled on him a little to be taking commands, in fact Herrick had been giving orders this whole time now that he thought about it, but the man knew what he was doing, and so far Phintil had found nothing objectionable with his lead.

THe lizardman thought to himself that Herrick would make a good comrade, if the man would join him. He'd have to ask. Still, enough time for that question later. Now was a time to run.

Again, while they ran, Phintil did not go at stop speed. He modulated his pace so that he could keep up with Herrick. They hadn't gotten as far as he would have liked though, before he heard shouting and crashing through the underbrush behind them. Some of the faster ones seemed to be catching up. Phintil couldn't tell for sure, but he thought that the leg wound was slowing his ally down. He knew that kind of shot would slow his pace, that was for sure.

He turned to face the direction they'd come from. "Go!" he at Herrick as he drew his twin axes. "I'll play with these guys a bit and then catch up!" He said it with a lot of bravado, but inside he felt trepidation. How many of them were there?

The first one came running into sight and tried to arrest his movement when he spotted Phintil, but the lizardman didn't give him the chance. He closed the distance with super-human speed, and he had his axe buried in the bandit's neck before the man could even respond. However in the time it took for him to remove his weapon from the corpse, three more had converged on him.

"At least three," he remarked to himself with concern as he pulled out his other axe. He could take them, he was sure of it, but they might slow him down more than he had planned.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick, despite his leg wound, was making decent pace. With his greatest effort, he managed to get up to a jogging speed. His mind was focused on one goal.

Getting out with his life.

He moved as quickly as he could, pain shooting up his leg as his vision tunneled towards the woods in front of him. Something brought him back.

"I'll play with these guys a bit then catch up!"

Herrick stopped, and he turned onto his heels. Hell no, no way he was leaving a comrade. "That's what you think!" Herrick yelled, and drew Cheesecutter and his rapier. He watched as Phintil already took one down. He was sure the lizard could take those three, but soon the big guys would show up, and they still had crossbows. Caught alone, Phintil wouldn't stand a chance. He yelled, and broke into a sprint. Every step sent javelins of agony into his leg, but he was moving at a full sprint towards the bandits. One of the bandits staring down Phintil grinned, twirling his two-handed axe, before he noticed Herrick coming. He shifted his eyes, just in time to catch a rapier point with his pupil.

One of the other bandits tried to whack Herrick with the shaft of his spear, but Herrick blocked it with Cheesecutter, splitting the spear in two. "Like hell I'm leaving you behind..." He rasped, putting Cheesecutter straight through the now spearless bandit's chestplate. The other bandit now looked slightly reluctant in his intent, backing away slowly.

[Alegretto]

Herrick's devastating charge into the fray improved Phintil's opinion of the man, but frustrated him at the same time. "We won't make it otherwise though!" he shouted in return to Herrick's, admittedly reassuring statement.

He was going to say more, but he didn't have time. The last remaining man was turning to run.

The lizardman crossed the short distance between them in what seemed like a single bound. The unfortunate bandit turned to look back, but all he got for his trouble was a face-full of axe.

Phintil pulled his weapon from the stricken corpse and turned to run the other way again. "We won't be able to escape at this pace," he told the other man.

His ally was making impressively good time, but just not good enough. What could they do?

He thought for a moment and a possible solution came to him, but he realized that it might not appeal to Herrick. Still what was the harm in asking?" "Hey Herrick, how much do you and your gear weigh?"

[DaGlobster]

Herrick paused at Phintil's question as he painfully ambled along at jogging speed. "How much I weigh? Hundred-eighty pounds, gear and all." He said, and looked back. He couldn't see any bandits, but he could sure as hell hear them charging through the overgrowth after them. He already knew what Phintil was thinking, but he didn't know if it would work. "If you're going to carry me, then get on with it!" He yelled, coming to a stumbling stop. He started reloading his pistol again, taking out one of his last three bullets and loading it into the weapon.

[Alegretto]

((OOC:Hope you don't mind a bit of manhandling, but don't be afraid to tell me if you do have a problem or anything.))

"Alright, here we go then." Phintil didn't stop when Herrick did, instead he grabbed his ally around the around the waist and hefted him over his shoulder while still at a dead run.

Once Phintil was sure that his cargo was secure, he started to pick up his pace. His acceleration was sudden, as he could finally run at his highest two-legged pace. Even burdened as he was, he could easily run half again as fast as any ordinary human.

If he was able to run on all four limbs than he could hit two and a half times as fast with no problem, but that was besides the point.

He kept going and he was easily outpacing all of the bandits. "How you holding up," he asked Herrick between harried breaths.

[DaGlobster]

Herrick scoffed, glad to be off his feet. "Doing just fine!" He said in a rather ambiguous tone, a crossbow bolt flying right by him as he finished talking. In what seemed to be an instinctive motion, he immediately trained his pistol on the bandit that had fired, and pulled the trigger. As if struck by a god's weapon, the bandit's head exploded and he practically flew backwards. A roar echoed throughout the forest, along with the slowly building sound of hooves. Headbiter crashed through the forest, mounted on what looked like a giant, six-tusked boar. Headbiter's jaw remained untreated, but the orc retained his vitality and hateful glare. Herrick saw the empty potion bottles on Headbiter's belt, and went pale. "Shit! Shit!" He started yelling, fumbling for another bullet as Headbiter's mount charged straight through a tree, sending splinters everywhere. "Phintil!" he yelled.

"GO! FASTER!"

[Alegretto]

Phintil couldn't look behind him to tell why Herrick wanted him to go faster, but he didn't have to. He recognized the roar coming from behind him quite distinctly, and he heard the sound of hooves on the dirt. He ran faster.

It wasn't enough though. Phintil could hear the sound of hoof beats getting closer. "Herrick," he yelled, "You're gonna have to hang on to me on your own. I need my arms too."

Once he was sure that Herrick had a firm hold, Phintil extended his long arms to the ground to move using all four limbs. His speed increased dramatically and he was suddenly brought back to the open grasslands, where his people would use this way of moving to cross the vast distances of the grassy plains.

Of course, Phintil thought wryly as he dodged a tree, there were fewer obstacles back home. He heard another roar behind him. And fewer orcs. "Herrick!" he shouted, "how we doing?"

[DaGlobster]

Herrick extended an arm and gripped onto Phintil's shoulder, his eyes locked onto the charging boar. Now that Phintil could get up to full speed, the boar was no longer gaining as rapidly as it was before, but it was still slowly gaining on them. It had beady red eyes, eyes that glared spitefully from its head as if everything in front of it was just another obstacle to go through. Herrick slowly got his gun loaded, and leveled it in the direction of the incoming orc. His head was swimming with blood loss and pain, which shot up his leg every time Phintil had to dodge a tree or step over something.

He fired, and the bullet ripped through the air towards Headbiter, blowing a hole straight through his gut. The orc made no acknowledgement of the wound, and reached for a bag of spears attached to the boar's saddle. He grabbed one, and promptly threw it in Herrick's direction. His rapier started glowing brightly, and rather than going straight into his head, it grazed his cheek, embedding itself in a nearby tree. Herrick looked down at his bandolier, growing paler.

Only one bullet left.

[Alegretto]

The only answer Phintil got to his question was a gunshot. And a spear that flew past him slammed into a thick trunk a few feet away. "Hang on!" Phintil shouted as he pulled a hard right turn, digging his right-hand talons into a tree and using it as a pivot to swing ninety degrees.

Hopefully the quick direction change would put the orc and his mount a few paces back. He kept running. They had to be nearing the edge of the forest now. The bandit camp wasn't too far from the outer perimeter of the woods. How much further would they have to go before Headbiter gave up?

He heard another feral roar behind him and a jolt of fear ran through him. Would he ever give up?

[DaGlobster]

Herrick hurriedly loaded his pistol, eyes locked on the slowly gaining boar. Then, the worst happened. When Phintil made one of his jumps, the loading rod, slick with rain, blood, and sweat, slipped out of his hands. It went flipping downwards, bumped against Phintil's scaled back, and out of Herrick's reach. Herrick was speechless as it fell away from him...and caught in the crease of his boot. He felt his heart miss a few beats, looking at it hanging precariously. He snapped out of it, and kicked his boot upwards, catching the rod as it went flying into the air. He finished loading the bullet, and aimed.

He fired, and the bullet tore through one of the boar's legs, and the beast came crashing down, less from the pain and more because it was physically unable to run anymore. Headbiter himself was thrown out of the saddle, and hit a tree with a sickening crash, falling down to the ground with a crunch. As Herrick looked back, he saw Headbiter trying to get up, but failing to do so, having acquired a brand new broken leg.

[Alegretto]

Phintil's breath came out in ragged gasps as he sprinted at top speed. The sounds behind him sounded closer, and closer, and then he heard Herrick's massive pistol roar. He'd been fine with the weapon's recoil the first time his ally had fired it, but tired as he was now it made him stumble and almost fall over.

He caught himself, and kept going. He was afraid he'd just given up their lead on Headbiter, but he heard the crashes and bangs of something heavy falling to the ground. The noise of hoof-beats behind him ceased, and the lizardman was filled with hope that Herrick had downed their foe with a well aimed shot. Maybe this job wasn't a total bust after all.

Best to be on the safe side though. He kept running for the edge of the forest. "Herrick," he yelled up to his ally, "did you get him?"