<div class="floatright">(http://s3.amazonaws.com/cdn.roosterteeth.com/uploads/images/54063e01-6933-4e38-b195-d0fc28595a06/md/2181220-1448930942333-Warrior_Karsten_Face.jpg)</div><br/>”Four...five....”<br/><br/>It was with growing disbelief that Cerias kept counting past the point where even a Halfling sleeping off a three day solstice feast would have woken up to the danger creeping closer. It wasn’t until he got to seven that he saw the dark haired girl’s eyes finally widen in recognition of the brown bag of rodent feces they suddenly found themselves drowning in. Somehow the D-ROUS managed to catch her leg and start dragging her backwards. Something he was sure she’d dissuade it off. She had a sword for a reason right? Only she’d managed to leave that behind and he took a step forwards before he caught himself. The instincts to protect the hopelessly helpless squishies in his party was deeply ingrained by now and he’d nearly charged in.<br/><br/>“Come on…kick it, attack it…do something…”<br/><br/>He muttered imploringly, getting more invested in it than he’d had any intention of getting, making small shifts with his shoulder as if he could almost feel himself throwing the punches. When she finally did kick it was such an ill placed hit that he wondered if she made it more tense on purpose. The ‘snap -pop’ that followed pierced the air more profoundly than should have been possible and he felt his ribs and wrist ache sympathetically. That shit hurt like a ranger stealing the sword you’d been after for months because ‘it will be a hit with the ladies, man’ and once more he had to hold himself back from interfering.<br/><br/>“Time to prove me wrong girl….”<br/><br/>At that point he didn’t have much hope anything would change, they just weren’t cut out to being here. If he had to save them and drag them back to town, his mission, and last chance to find something worthwhile to do while he waited for transport to the city, would be failures both. He’d already lifted his foot to send the shockwave that would end it all down the road, when he felt that familiar sharp tang of holy magic crawl along his spine and he paused, eyes widening. The spark was sharp, tightly focused and well-aimed. That should be a severely wounded rat in his estimation and his foot slowly lowered while he watched with an intense interest he hadn’t held earlier.<br/><br/>“The sorceress is one thing, but why the hell is the priestess swinging a sword….”<br/><br/>But he didn’t have a chance to ponder that either before the other girl, apparently feeling left out in the mud and shit bath guild, planted her own ass in the odorous muck with a splat that sent at least some rats scrambling back. He couldn’t blame them, that mess smelled worse than the furry little critters did. At least her aim with the boot was a bit better than her friends and she made some room for herself.<br/><br/>“Leave the damn pig-sticker alone…you don’t bloody need it….”<br/><br/>Not able to watch without commenting at least to himself, Cerias found himself having uncrossed his arms, resting his hand on the pommel of his own blade, itching to go down there and end the suffering. All their suffering. Another icy blast and they finally got one of the large rodents down, leaving only about a dozen or so closing in on them.<br/><br/>“Help her!!”<br/><br/>For a second he actually considered it. His head tilted to the side as he watched the priestess, or cleric, he didn’t know what she preferred, scramble backwards on her ass, desperate to get out of the range of the putrid beasts. But she was a damn priestess, with a bloody mage for backup, they should be able to do a damn sight better than this. If he did save them then they might be more open to listening to when he told them what they needed to change. They seemed exactly the kind of spoiled brats that would otherwise just ignore it all and keep doing what clearly wasn’t working just out of sheer mule-headedness, or because he was low born and/or older than they. On the other hand they might just resent him more for it, he didn’t see much room for gratefulness with all that self-entitlement filling their buckets. Maybe a hole in the bottom would let enough pour out to make space.<br/><br/>As he mulled over his options he watched the desperate fight below grow into something untenable and downright dangerous. The glares he got was a bit annoying, but they didn’t give up easily at least, he had to admit that much, and a trip to the temple would be both long and costly. Still, he couldn’t do it for them. That would lead nowhere.<br/><br/>So he took a step to the side of the path, look at them pointedly, and gestured behind him with his thumb.<br/><br/>“First lesson girls. When you get into a situation you can’t handle….run!”<br/><br/>His foot hovered barely an inch over the ground, prepared to send a thunderclap down the path behind them should they need just a tiny little break from the chasing monstrosities.<br/>