Leaping to the attack, the frontliners dart forward. In the narrow ship's hallway, there's really only room for two people to stand beside each other, withsomeone friendly slipping between them if they weren't too big. There wasn't going to be much room down here for maneuver or anything fancy, just a straightforward slugging match. The soldiers know it, too- wordlessly they tighten up, bringing their shields together and holding their swords at the ready. Clearly, they've trained together, or trained in a system that requires teamwork-based tactics. Just as clearly, their goal is to buy time for the crewman to get away and raise the alarm, so the escapees can be buried in numbers on the middeck hall. Delia clears her throat, beginning to sing an unfamiliar song to her newfound allies. Each reacts a little differently; Garth's posture stiffens, Chira stomps the deck lightly, and Mona flushes from her exposed collarbone up to her brow even as she hisses, "Not so loud! Er- don't stop singing, just... just sing quieter!"<br/><br/>Chidingly, Garth says, "Battle will be louder than song anyway, child. Obliged, demoness," he says, as he feels himself speeding up. Xarius darts forward to the paired soldiers, swinging his unfamiliar sword at the legs of one of the soldiers. Despite the strangeness of the weapon, he cuts a gash in one's leg under the armored skirt, drawing a yelp from his target... but the soldier doesn't retreat one step backwards. As he gets up to their position, he can also see inside the open passageways on either side of the hall- in each is a row of three cannons, and a stack of small cannonballs the size of large melons and plain white unidentified bags. This must also double as the gun deck, in case any small raiders bothered the ship, though the cannons don't look to have been fired recently. This route wasn't heavily preyed on by pirates, at least not this far from the prison- and those that were preyed on usually were attacked on the way back with the products of the mines', not with the laborers intended for them. It turns out to be a bright day outside, the sun glinting off polished barrels half-exposed to the bracing warm, wet wind passing through the ship... but all that is a distraction from the business at hand.<br/><br/>"Happy to help, Xarius," Mona purrs beside Delia, and she changes her posture to stick out her bust a little more, pouting her lips and pointing at the ratfolk crewman. "Hey there, fuzzy," she calls, and Delia can feel the magic surge from her companion. The effect on the ship's crew is as abrupt as it is blatant- even from thirty feet away, Delia can see the sudden tent in the ratfolk's trousers as he drops his mop and, all thoughts of duty aside, begins pushing through the soldiers' wall to get at the redheaded sorceress. Interrupting his plans is a well timed stroke from Xarius, his sword lashing out again and cutting deep across his midsection. The crewman collapses to the deck bleeding, already unconscious and not even moaning. He could be saved, if he was wanted alive- the wound was not likely mortal. Mona pouts a little, but doesn't criticize the blow. With another snort, Chira calls, "Thank you for clearing my lane-" and then right in front of Delia, the centaur surges into action, magic and song lending the large quadruped frightening speed as she barrels for the soldiers. With the crewman down, though, there's no need to break through the line; the centaur rears as she gets to the soldier left unwounded by Xarius, and slams her hooves into the shield of the soldier. The crack of the blow echoes down the corridor, and the soldier staggers backward a full yard from the force of the impact; his shield is cracked and badly dented, but still intact. The recoil, though, drove his shield and arm back into his chest, and he's dazed and bleeding from under his armor just due to the brute force of the blow.<br/><br/>And yet, these were trained soldiers, and they were going to fight back. The specter of the large, irate centaur was enough to make the two ignore Xarius, and with rote practiced maneuvers the two soldiers engage. The one in front of Xarius turns slightly, keeping the shield covering the feline, and slashes at Chira's front leg with a painful-looking slash. The other, though, drives his sword straight into the centaur, stabbing almost a foot into the joining of her human and horse halves. Chira grits her teeth, only letting a quiet hiss of pain escape, but from experience Xarius can see that the wound was telling... the centaur doesn't seem inclined to retreat, though, and there's a disturbing tinge of hatred in the bigger woman's eyes.<br/><br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">((Current global effects:<br/>Inspire Courage: +2 to attack, damage, and saves against charm/fear (1/21 rounds used for the day)<br/>Haste: (1/7 rounds used for the day). +1 to attack, AC, and reflex saves. Movement increases by 30'. When making a full attack, may make one extra attack. <br/><br/>Actions:<br/>Delia- Begins singing, and casts Haste on everybody present <br/>Mona- Casts a spell (unidentified) on the ratfolk crewman. Ratfolk crewman rolls a 7 and does not save.<br/>Xarius- Moves forward and BOPs the left guard for 7 damage (rolled a 5, +2 from the bardic song)<br/>Garth- moves up behind Xarius, no action<br/>Crewman- Runs to Mona. Xarius AOOs him in passing, hits on a 28 and rolls max damage (13) and KOs the crewman. <br/>Chira- Charges at the soldier on the right and uses her hooves. She hits, and deals 18 (!) damage.<br/>Soldiers- Both soldiers are a bit more unnerved by Chira than Xarius, and attack her. Both hit, 1 crits and confirms. Total of 34 damage. <br/><br/>Situations: 2 imperial soldiers shoulder to shoulder in front of Xarces and Chira, with Garth right behind Xarces. Mona and Delia are hanging further back, and the ratfolk crewman is down and KOed on the floor. The crewman on the right is wounded (&lt;2/3 HP) from Chira's attack. Chira is wounded (&lt;2/3 HP. For reference, I won't often give out full HP details on NPCs, friendly or ally; "wounded" is &lt;2/3 HP, "seriously wounded" is &lt;1/3 HP, so that you can know for the purpose of vore bonuses et cetera. If you get to know friendly NPCs well enough, this will be replaced by numbers for them as you get used to fighting alongside them.))</div></div></div>