The Open Road

Click, he slid the blade back into the sheath across his waist-line nodding slowly at Sione’s words. He wanted to see how things played out with the man and the small group of bandits, but decided it was probably best for them to leave while they still had the chance. So he waited in the small hallow until she had given him the signal. Watching as she summoned twin blades of her own seemingly from the air, and a strange bubble had been cast around him. A single hand reaching out as if to poke it, though he finally crawled from the hiding spot and rose to his feet, extending his arms outward as he rose, lengths of cloth fell about him from his cloak rippling like dark waves from the subtle movement beneath; and he began to follow down the opposite path. If luck would have it Zhax’n and his group would allow them to pass without to much interference as they were already preoccupied with the lone man. Or so one would hope. Though that did not seem to be the case as the initial three members of the group crept up on them. A hand moved towards his side; tugging at the draw-strings to one of the pouches and pulled it free allowing it to dangle within his grasps turning in such a way that they would be able to see the coin-pouch. Though if Sione looked she would notice that it was somewhat different than the one that she had given him.”Please leave us alone, and I’ll give you this.” He called out in a soft ambiguous tone.

The four had mostly surrounded one side of Demetrius Elantine before he materialized, the smoke suddenly turning into an armed man again left them off guard and shocked them for the moment. During their surprise, his quick attack with his blade did not go unnoticed, the nearest Gnoll wielding only a long-sword tried to jump away, but he was not left with enough time to completely get out of reach of the sword. The tip of the weapon easily cut through the bandit's crude cloth and leather armor, deep enough to cut the flesh across his rib-cage and shatter his up most left rib. He fell on his back and tried rolling over, one hand clutching to try and keep the wound closed, the other was attempting to weakly push him back on to his feet.
The spear and shield Kiggy to his left went to thrust the man through with her spear, temporarily lowering her shield as to completely follow through with her attack.
The Gnoll to Demetrius Elantine's right simply raised their shield and readied their weapon for any incoming attacks.
The one Kiggy at his rear jumped towards his back, looking to get inside his reach so he could quickly unleash a flurry of smaller stabs with being easily blocked.

While Legion Master Zhax and his duo were tempted just to attack the potentially defenseless boy (still quite oblivious to the slowly losing situation behind them), but to them, the sound of metal money spoke better than Common to them. Upon seeing the bag of coins there was a certain pleasure seen across the creatures, clearly showing they were interested. The whispered and chuckled to themselves for a moment before coming to the consensus to willingly take the money and let them go. Legion Master Zhax pointed at the money, then the ground, he was trying to make the boy just drop the money on the ground and walk away.

Oh – That single silver eye peered at the trio through the slit of a mask. A frown stretching across concealed lips though the face remained a wall of apathy. Expressionless. He looked towards the one Zhax’n, seemingly the leader of the group. His gaze then lowered towards the pouch dangling within his grasp. The soft clinking of something metal. He had warned them hadn’t he? He nodded slowly as if understanding the directions; but then made as if to throw the pouch instead. “Here catch!” he called out again as he began to swing the pouch back and forth slowly at first, it was then that they might have realized the pouch was not all it seemed to be; The strings a little too long a little too thick as he released some of the slack from beneath his sleeves, building momentum until the strings were taunt and whistled as it spun about the air blurring with the motion. “Oops!” Swoosh-Snap~ one of the strings slipped from his thumb whipping at the air with a loud crack; and the pouch opened slinging five lead orbs about an inch in diameter at the trio one aimed at dead-center between the eyes of middle beast while the other two sprawled out to either side in a wide fanning motion attempting to catch the other two. Somewhat less than accurate. Though the force behind the projectiles were guided mostly by momentum, and surprising given the boy's small stature. The long string dangling within his grasp revealing the pouch for what it truly was a Sling, deceptive in its design. Quickly, he moved behind Sione as she placed herself between him and the creatures. Though he did not lingers to see the results, he reached out to clasp Sione's wrists and began running. "Sorry, I'm very bad at negotiating. I'm only seven." He shouted back. 

As the Kiggy's spear is blocked, she hops backwards away from him, making sure the smokey man could not get close enough to her fast enough to strike her without any counterattack or interruption. She wound her spear back again to ready another thrust at Demetrius Elantine .
The Gnoll who'd gone on the defensive now pushed an attack, taking a step forward while winding up her one handed sword with a grunt to slash right above his hips, if it were to successfully land and penetrate, it'd most certainly be a fatal blow.
Had the Kiggy with the dual daggers not dedicated his movement so much, he could've had a chance to react. Mid dash, the Kiggy soon found a blade piercing through his throat which began to spurt and drip dark red blood down his scales. With his momentum he would fall down onto his knees among the grasses, very close to Demetrius Elantine , dropping his weapons before reaching up to grab around where the dagger was lodged in his flesh. The Kobold made a gurgling sound through all the blood and tried to look up at his killer as the life quickly faded from the creature's face.
The bandit who was struck first now clambered back up onto his feet, one hand applying pressure to the cut as blood seeped through, the other hand hold his sword in a defensive posture. He took two paces backwards, he still needed a bit of time to recover and control his wound.

The three were very anxious to see how much money the boy was offering, that is, until he started winding it up in rapid circles. Within the short period, none of them had much time to react to the hurtling metal balls. Legion Master Zhax went wide eyed as the metallic object soared at his face. Xin 's shots (mostly) struck true, the pellet designed for Legion Master Zhax cracked on the topside of his head, luckily angled well enough to not crush his skull, but bonked him instead. He went out cold as his eyes shut and crumpled down onto the ground, soundly sleeping in the dirt. His female Gnoll companion on Legion Master Zhax 's left was smacked right in the stomach with a metal ball, luckily her torso was armored and the impact would only knock the wind out of her with a yelp, stun her for the moment, and likely leave a bruise. The wild shots at the right side Kiggy missed or did superficial damage, only glancing off the armor or surface of the scales. Before any weapons could be drawn by the only non-hurt bandit, @sione and Xin were off running away! Angrily, the lone standing Kiggy wildly threw a javelin at them as they ran, but it was an unlikely hit. However, his attention would then quickly turn to Legion Master Zhax , who was potentially injured. He crouched down next to his fallen leader, using one arm to hold up Legion Master Zhax 's unconscious head while the other felt around his body, looking for his pulse. Inspection would eventually reveal that he was indeed alive and deeply snoring.

No longer worried about his commander's condition, he would gently let Legion Master Zhax slump back down in a bush and position his limbs into a more comfortable posture for laying on the forested floor. Legion Master Zhax looked rather peaceful for once with shut eyes and still limbs as his chest visibly heaved up and down, if he wasn't mindlessly mumbling and drooling on the ground. His caretaker would leave him for now, turning to join the fight with Demetrius Elantine.
When the female Gnoll recovered from the harsh impact and caught he breath she'd begin moving to assist fighting Demetrius Elantine  as well, they'd let the boy go, this time.

Continued to run down the road as fast as he could with Sione in tow, not wanting to stick around and give the others a chance to retaliate. Though he was rewarded with the dull thump they pellets made when they found their marks. Followed shortly by the sound of a spear striking against the ground falling short of its mark. Sione would have easily been able to keep up given the difference in their height, having to take nearly two steps for each of hers though the boy seemed quick despite his age. A soft childlike giggle slipping past his lips. Though he did not respond to Sione’s words, not yet at least. He continued to run down the road, cloak rippling behind him in the air like waves upon the shore as he followed along the bends and curves of the path until they were well out of site and he was satisfied that they were not being followed. It seemed that they had escaped for now. He slowed gradually and came to a halt. A single hand lifting slowly towards the chin of his mask sliding it upward the rest upon his head as he drew in a breath. The subtle motion of his chest rising and falling could be seen beneath the thick fabric as well as the ill-defined outline of his shoulders. He turned to face Sione, smiling up at her. Though his expression change slightly as he peered down the road half-expecting some more creatures to jump out of the shrubbery, and recalled her words. They were true—things could have just as easily ended very poorly for them if his little plan had not worked. He lowered his gaze towards the ground; looking genuinely apologetic, unlike -the playful tone he had spoken to Zhax’n and his group. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want them to take the gift you had given me…” He trailed off, gaze lifting to meet her own. “Thank you for protecting me, Sione.”

1. She hadn't anticipated that the man would take the risk of possibly losing his opponent underfoot to strike at her, but luckily her shield barely went up mid charge before it landed. The sheer force of the sword impacting the thin wood shield would splinter it into multiple pieces and also sent its user forcefully toppling headfirst into a tree trunk a few meters away. With a satisfying thunk, she crumpled down at the base of the tree before slumping backwards onto the ground.
2. With the short moment his grasp was released, the Gnoll dropped her weapons at her sides and put out her hands to try and stop the crushing boot of Demetrius Elantine . Her strength was enough to slow it, but the initial impact would still cause her to be knocked out as her arms collapsed to her sides and her head and face were pinned between a boot and the earth. Ages of war-like tendencies among these Gnolls helped them develop stronger adaptations to keep them alive, such as thicker skulls, but the soft brain inside however, could still be knocked around.
3. This Kiggy was not liking his odds and was debating running from the scene. He'd need to get the word out otherwise the rest would never hear back from any of them. More importantly, he didn't want to die today, not here! Rather than entangling himself in the duel, he turned to flee for the edge of the forest.
4. The final standing opponent was another Gnoll, she was equipped with a sword and shield. Steadily but quickly closing the gap with the shield at the ready. When she was close enough, using the momentum of her approach and her strength, she bashed his side with the shield, looking to topple or weaken his stance.
5. For now, he payed more attention to healing himself rather than his surroundings or the ongoing battle. The pain had sapped his stamina and strength as he wearily finished up wrapping the cloth strips (that belonged to his leader) around his bleeding torso and midsection.

3. He ran, making to a line of green shrubbery in which he disappeared upon passing through. It would seem as if he was gone, but from beyond the plants he was actually catching his breath and watching back, perhaps there was some value in sticking around.
4. After the shield impacted him and they were very close together, she moved it to block the incoming pommel and held it there to also prevent Demetrius Elantine from using his sword arm, he'd have to gain some distance otherwise she'd be able to keep his weapon pressured and limited to the outside of her guard. With the now very short range between them, not only did the short reach between them halt Demetrius Elantine , but it was also a double-edged sword, as he was also too close for her to effectively swing her sword into his flesh. She would maintain the short distance as long as she could physically move to stay next to him. With a quick snap of her right leg, she thrust up her plated knee into his lower abdomen, hopefully kneeing him squarely for a stun.
5. He carefully started to crawl towards the unconscious Legion Master Zhax to put the remaining cloth back in the pouch he had took it out from. He was aching all down where he was sliced, but it would save him assuming he was not killed by the man or any other passerby.

4. She anticipated he would come up and around with his sword, rather than straight down and thus her shield was in the wrong place and left her exposed to his attack. His sword came down upon her wooden and leather left shoulder pad, wedging itself stuck in the piece of armor. The force of the strike combined with the shock made her stance slip, her back leg fell onto her knee, making her take a kneeling stance while growling at the pain. Her left shield arm fell loose next to her side, too hurt to move or keep the shield up. In a last effort she thrusts the point of her sword directly at Demetrius Elantine's midsection, hoping to skewer his organs.
5. The wounded Kiggy went to pull himself along the ground until he was close enough to be able to rest his back against a nearby tree. He slowed his breathing as he tried to recover, also hoping no one found him or Legion Master Zhax.