[spoiler] Carver rolled downwards through ferns and growth, tumbling until finally he came to a stop on the rocks in the shallow river at the bottom of the hill he had rolled down from. Cold water snapped him out of his stupor and he picked himself up as a creature snarled and jumped him. A long snout bared multiple fangs like a snake as the creature went for Carvers face. Grabbing the jaws of the river hound and fighting to hold them away, Carver wrung its neck and tossed the animal aside off of him. It rolled into the stream and was already back on all fours as Carver struggled to get up. He stood, his hand finding the hammer at his side, slipping it from its belt. The river hound circled him, the four legged creature, resembling an aquatic, scaled dog, bared its mouth full of jagged fangs at him and bristled even more spines on its back, snarling as dark black eyes tracked him, multiple eyelids blinking rapidly. Carver held his hammer at his side. “Smart one aren’t ya? Trained you up good they did.” Carver raised his hammer. “Come on then you runt!” The river hound snarled and charged through the water as did Carver. [/spoiler] [spoiler]A mace impacted off of Elise and staggered her, to which she recovered for the next swing, catching the mace in her gauntleted hand, smashing the elbow of the arm upwards and breaking it as a shout of pain rang out. Multiple men had jumped her, the ones brave enough to fight after discovering that she had no head to speak of. Swords impacted off her armour and arrows splintered, as she moved through one man at a time, using her reinforced gauntlets to inflict easily accomplished dislocations and breaks, or smashing them so hard upside the head that they fell, unconscious. She was gaining the upper hand slowly person by person, gaining ground as one after the other was beaten into submission. As the last man fell into the dirt, having his knee shattered from a kick, a sword, small and thin, pierced straight through her armoured suit and poked out through the other side. Elise looked down to her chest piece as the fencing sword had cut through her armour as if it were paper. There was no pain to speak of. No body to puncture. But fear, the first time in a long time, paid a visit to Elise as she spun around on her attacker, the apparent leader or showman of the group. No sword had ever cut through her armour so easily before. No sword had ever cut through her armour before. [/spoiler] [spoiler]Carver felt a lance of pain travel up his arm as the river hound jumped and found its jaws around Carver’s arm. Carver staggered and fell into the water as the hound over top of him began to shake its head as its fangs dug into skin and began to shred it. With his free hand Carver swung his hammer into the side of the hound’s head, smashing its gills shut as the creature howled in pain and rolled off of him. Another swing and the hammer sent the hound reeling back, smashing through bones in its jaw as it staggered on all fours. Rolling over onto his knees, Carver pushed himself back up to his feet with his hammer, as the hound bared the spines on its back. Another swing from his good arm sent the hound rolling through the shallow water where it slumped, unmoving. Carver stood in the shallow water, breathing heavily. Blood ran down one of his arms freely into the water, leaving red in its wake. [/spoiler] [spoiler]The man attacking Elise no longer held any smile or sense of carelessness as his face bore all the intent of a man out to kill. The fencing sword swung through the air at her as she adeptly avoided it, the blade seemingly singing, sounding like a tune as it arced through the air. She had sustained multiple punctures to her suit and in trying to block the blade Elise was horrified when it cut through the gauntleted fingers of her armour like it was nothing. As the man lashed out through the air Elise ducked under the blade’s swing, sweeping her legs out and catching the man by surprise, sending him toppling to the ground. Elise was faster to recover, and seeing her chance, dove onto the man. The man reacted on instinct, holding his sword out as she impaled herself on it, to her own advantage. With her free hand Elise curled her gauntleted fingers and raised her arm, impacting metal straight into the man’s forehead, once, twice, three times, before the man went limp, unconscious. With a sigh of relief, Elise stood up. All along the road laid several of her attackers, all unconscious. All the others had fled. Looking down to the sword impaled in her breast plate, she grabbed it by the handle and pulled it out. The sword caught her eye, and made a sound like an instrument even as it swung so delicately and gently through the air. Her eyes couldn’t look away from it. The sword was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. It was almost like……it was perfect. The weight. The grip. The handle. The blade was as sharp as could be and bore no signs of wear. Elise looked away. Carver! She needed to see if he was okay. [/spoiler]