Snippet #1572089

As it happened, Talae did not have much of a chance to wring any answers out of everyone (not that she would have pressed the point anyway) before the Legion was called to charge. As the Vanguard unit, they were in front, and despite the disappearance of their general, following Sid's orders came easily to her, used as she was to this abbreviated version of some larger chain of command that she didn't really care to know. Activating the speed enchantment on her armor, she ran with her closest comrades until they met the wall. Common sense informed her that waiting for the ladders would take a while, so instead she decided to simply climb it.

Which of course was not a useful course of action for Koni and Pel. Well, that's what armor boosts and friends were for, right? Ducking under the range of arrow-fire, Talae stood at the base of the wall, dropping into a crouch and lacing her fingers together to create a foothold. Using the strength-boosting enhancement, she jerked her head at the other two, and Pel seemed to understand immediately, using her own leaping enchantment and taking a running jump. Tala, with the aid of her armor, managed to toss her cleanly over the wall. "You're next, partner," she called to Koni.

As soon as he was up and over as well, she'd take a running leap at the wall herself, landing a ways up and simply climbing the rest, careful not to get smacked with any kind of projectile on the way there. It seemed that Caine was still yelling something about hurrying below, which she took to mean that the ladders were keeping him at bay for the moment. Probably unfortunate for the poor souls in line in front of him. Drawing her sword, Talae stepped right into the fray.

The average swordfight lasts less than three seconds. The fancy shows that happen during training happen because exercise and improvement are the goal. When death is the goal, everything is faster. If you rely on blocking too much, you die. If you hesitate, you die. When death is the only objective, you have to hit quickly, and without mercy. The assassin understands this, and works to take as much time as possible away from that three seconds. The words were not hers, but they had been the guiding principle of her methods for quite some time. Sidestepping an incoming swing, she impaled a soldier through the chest and located the other two, quickly moving to them.

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Alistair saw the problem posed by the wall's ascension. Though it would of course be no object to him, there was no denying that the longer the rest of them spent getting over the wall, the more of them would die in the attempt.

It was for this reason that he decided to make good on his promise to the elder Shanir in short order. He wouldn't be able to manage it with most people, but Faera was tiny, so it could conceivably work. "Miss Faera, I'm going to fly you over the wall," he informed the blind girl for the sake of not scaring her witless when he actually did so, then swept in and latched onto her forearms with his own taloned ones, careful not to pierce skin.

It made his flight considerably more laborious, but the speed he'd picked up on the way down translated into enough momentum to manage it, and he deposited her in the general vicinity of a few other spellcasters, including Beelzes, who was presently letting some form of mantislike creature chew into a line of enemies, apparently highly amused with their panicked reactions. He personally was unsurprised.

His task accomplished, Alistair joined Lily and the other marksmen in the sky and drew his own bow, a recurved construction of short but powerful make, notching an arrow to the string and letting fly, hitting a Child square in the throat even as it had made to spew its unholy fire at Thanaros and Mikana. Interrupted, the flame immolated the Child instead, and it fell screaming off the opposite side of the wall.