Arrows had started flying over the heads of the combatant, marking the start of a properly brutal battle. While the bodyguard of Laplace maintained his focus inside the chaos that had begun, the steady stance that anticipated an incoming assault struggled to mask the knight's fears. The line wasn't broken, but rather, it was maintained in spots by the less-armored members of their cavalcade. Which is also pretty poor. If that damnable beggar or their mage falls in combat, then his Lady and the dancer would be in grave danger.<br/><br/>According to the soldier in front of him, though, Claire should worry more about himself than his teammates. It wasn't a thought communicated by telepathy or waves of sound, but by the universal language of violence. A clean, neat thrust of a spear was aimed at the knight's head, meaning to take it off or perhaps an eye. Unlike others though, the assault succeeded in striking a deep cut in to the helmet's armor before glancing off in a scream of white sparks. Grimly, the knight repaid the considerate memento mori by a quick, uncivilized jab of the spear's blunt end to the soldier's stomach. It didn't finish the fight, but it killed the wind out of him and gave the bodyguard an appropriate amount of breathing room from the overeager attack.<br/><br/>It was rather worrying, but Claire wasn't able to find Ysena or Valerie in the clearing around them; Perhaps they had gone off to flank the group, which would sorely be needed.  It seemed that Ashton was not doing so well either. The knight's plate stood silent before shrieking with movement, Claire cutting off his own train of thought by attempting to cut his spear into the soldier's guts.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">ooc</div><div class="spoiler_body">Claire attacks enemy Soldier @ F17!<br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">nerdy calculations</div><div class="spoiler_body"><tt class="bbc_tt">Battle Inventory:<br/>  Name            Rng  Atk  Hit  Eva  Crt  AS  Ql<br/> - Iron Lance      1   014  090  005  002  02  38<br/> - Vulnerary                                   03<br/>Active Skills:<br/><strong>Renewal</strong> - Passive Effect / At the start of each Player turn, you regain HP equal to 1/10 of your Maximum HP.<br/><strong>Armoured</strong> - Passive Effect / Any attack that would only deal 1 through 5 damage, no matter the source, the damage is reduced to 0.<br/><strong>Hold The Line</strong> - Passive Effect / Whenever you attempt to hold a chokepoint, the character with this skill blocks off enemy movement through the space to their right and left.<br/><strong>Hold the ****ing Line!</strong> - Claire is a knight bent on dedicating the **** out of his life to defending a cause. / If the character is within 3 spaces of Allied Units, +2 Defense / Resistance<br/><strong>Stirring Blood</strong> - Unless the enemy is another chivalrous knight to duel sportingly with. / If the character is fighting [Knight] or their Promotions, +10 Critical<br/><strong>Portable Oven</strong> - Metal is an excellent conductor of heat. Claire is covered in metal. / If the character is wielding [Fire], +10 Enemy Critical<br/>Under Effect of:<br/><strong>Charisma</strong> from Maribelle - +10 to Hit/Evasion within three spaces of Maribelle.<br/></tt><br/><br/>hit: 90(base)-9(sol eva)+10(mari hit)+5(enemy daunt) = 96 or under to hit<br/>crit: 2(base) - 1(sol luk) = 1 omg i might actually crit if i roll 1<br/>Result: 56<br/><br/>Claire deals 14(base) - 6(enemy def) = 8damage.<br/></div></div><br/>And hits for 8 damage. Soldier @ H19 has 7 HP left.<br/></div></div><br/>The plunge was partially mitigated by the well-made leather armor protecting the target's stomach, but his ashen face (perhaps from Sir Aurich's aura?) were meant not long for this world. Claire took his defensive stance again, feeling the pressure of battle.