The Journey Ends

[Carthrat]

Karil angles his staff downward to deflect the blow, but then steps forward, sliding his hands along his weapon and coming in with a powerful blow to the side.

[Brian]

Farel is forced to switch stances to bring her sword around in time to block, but quickly retaliates with a jab towards Karil's face.  Now Karil is facing her on edge; one foot points towards Karil, the other is behind her, and pointed to her left.  The profile is the first thing that a warrior learns, and she's focused on presenting as little targeting area as possible ... but the stance seems oddly basic for someone as experienced as the twins.

Karil then thinks he sees what she's up to; by placing her feet so, she could theoretically strike with the foot that was behind her, making it difficult to see the attack coming.  Such an attack would be weak, as the stance can't provide it any power, but the clearing is full of loose dirt and leaves ... having a pile of that kicked into one's face would make combat difficult.

[Carthrat]

Karil  presses forward with savage, whirling blow, spinning one way, then the other- this technique designed both to filter out most of the dirt Farel is about to send his way- and force her back into the path of another Serpent Soldier.

[Brian]

Farel's cloud of dirt and leaves hit the spinning vanes of air, but the counter does not work exactly as Karil hoped.  Her leaves (and some others that were simply lying on the ground) are all swept upward in a vortex, before slowly raining down across the clearing.

The fall of leaves is thin enough that it shouldn't even hinder the majority of the men.

Farel is pushed back, though, and the nearby Serpent man swings with all of his might at her blade.  She deflects that attack easily enough, but can't counter without leaving herself open, her back turned.  Leaping upwards, she flips over the man, and jumps off his shoulders, shoving him to the ground at Karil's feet, and turning around.

[Carthrat]

Whilst Farel has been engaged in her acrobatics, Karil has been gauging where she will land, and what best to do. As she turns around, he uses her own trick against her- sidestepping across from the serpent man and kicking up foliage into her face- quickly following through with a brutal thrust.

[Brian]

On the descent, Farel's sword creates a gust to deflect the debris, but it costs her, and she's captured in a net; as she falls to the ground, Karla breaks away from her position of merely holding the Serpent-clan men at bay, and rushes over towards her sister.

[Carthrat]

"Keep them seperated!" bellows Karil, realising that he should be capable of finishing Farel right now- if Karla cannot intervene. He tries just that, swinging Twilight Song overhead and, holding only one end with both heads, smashes down at Farel's prone form.

[Brian]

Karil's form is good, and his strength is great -- especially compared to the slight girls.  Farel still twists out of the way, though, so what should be a mortal blow instead merely breaks one arm (though, quite loudly).  Then Karla is there, and exploits Karil's over-extension to reach her sister, a blow slashing across the Serpent-clan leader's shoulder.

On a lesser man, Karil knows, the wound would have been deeper and worse.  He, however, can ignore the pain, and probably the wound would not kill him even if he neglected to bandage it after the fight.  It's questionable if the trade off is worth it, though.  Another cut or two like that could increase the rate of blood-loss dramatically.

[Carthrat]

Wincing a little, Karil makes some short gestures to his men, indicating that they should quickly surround the duo.

For his part, he begins making a series of short, swift jabs towards Karla, forgoing his usual power to keep up the pressure. He angles the blows so that Karla cannot easily retreat without falling into the blades of his clansmen, and is instead forced to block.

[Brian]

The men descend on the twins like a swarm; Farel's broken arm limits her ability, and Karla has to try and fend off both Karil and the Serpent men ... not to mention the attention the has to preserve to spare her sister.

"It ends!" Karla suddenly exclaims, suddenly leaping towards Farel, and thrusting with her sword.

Farel manages an indignant and surprised cry before Karla's blade drives through her chest.  Farel goes down, and Karla comes back up with a sword in each hand.  Her eyes lock on Karil's, and the Serpent men all step back instinctively.

It's poor enough for traitors to the clan ... but for one traitor to betray another, and twin sisters, at that?

[Carthrat]

How low have they sunk..

"I always thought that you would wait to kill me before setting on each other," remarks Karel. "But you are only one, now, and we are many." He speaks this more for the benefit of his men than anything else.

With a harsh shout, he lashes forward in a stabbing motion with Twilight Song, knowing his men will follow suit.

[Brian]

The men do not actually follow suit, cowed by Karla, leaving Karil and the remaining sister to battle alone.

Even though the swords look to be unwieldly, Karla has no trouble weilding both of them, and with one to defend and another to attack, the situation is decidedly grim.  The sword in her left hand jabs alarmingly close to Karil's side, while the one in her right deflects Twilight Echo; if not with ease, then without undue strain.

The Serpent men do capture the wounded Farel, at least, but Karla is not yeilding, and the men can't bring themselves to attack her.

[Carthrat]

Karil swears under his breath, cursing his weakness, and that of his men.

Gauging Karla's apparent skill with the two blades, he figures that if he continues to fight her in a conventional manner, she will eventually wear him down and slay him before he can do likewise to her.

Twirling Twilight Echo, he lunges forward, attempting to catch Karla's right-hand blade on his unwounded shoulder. Though he grunts with the strain, he narrows his eyes and forces his way through- Twilight Echo whistling towards Karla's left wrist.

Code Select Expand

Karil is spending a Willpower point to ignore all wound penalties, and attempting to disarm Karla. Wheeeee~

[Brian]

Code Select Expand

Karil's spent willpower is enough to ignore wound penalties for the rest of the scene (Hooray Toughness!).  In addition, this action bolsters the men, so that Karla's presence can no longer keep them at bay.

Karla takes the obvious opening, not figuring for a sacrifice attack on the part of Karil.  The sword slashes into his shoulder, but is at least balked by the bone.  With the concentration honed from years of leading men and putting aside his own concerns for the greater good, he is able to shrug off the pain of steel digging slowly through bone, and brings Twilight Echo to bear on Karla's right wrist.

The attack disarms Karla, and she cries out in pain, her sister's blade flying to the ground, where the Serpent men quickly snatch it away.  Whirling, she spins her blade around, delaying them for the moment.

It is at this point that Karil's ears pick up the whistling sound of something ... many somethings ... being thrown towards him and his men.

[Carthrat]

Aha! The trap is sprung!

"DOWN!" bellows Karil, he himself crouching and whipping across with his weapon at Karla's shins.