Love and Steel 2

Love and Steel 2 is an encounter in Blood of Heroes.
==Enemies==
* Royal Archer (2600 Gold, 320 XP, 200? Energy, 5 HP)
* Royal Scout (3250 Gold, 400 XP, 250? Energy, 5 HP)
==Transcript==
===Introduction===
Marcellus' paint throbbed like a beating heart, pulsing cyan and azure in turn. All the blows had diminished its protective wards. And he had no time to replenish them. Soon steel would bite his flesh if it evaded his guard. He growled, and brought his weapon down in a savage chop.
The blade caught a soldier on the collarbone. It ended up in his intestines. Sunderer came free, leaving the horrific wound to spray blood and spew gore. Her reddened steel reflected the next foe -- warned Marcellus of the attack that might have claimed his life. He whirled round and parted a helmeted head from a mail-coiffed neck with a horizontal sweep. Shattered metal links rained across the stone.
Sunderer was still parallel with the ground when Aya jumped onto it, leaving a cloud of smoke where she'd been but a moment ago. The ninja only stood on the blade for an instant before throwing herself into a second, even loftier leap. Marcellus turned his head and followed her flight. She intercepted a white-masked assassin in midair and thrust her sword through his heart.
"Go," she said. "I'll finish these."
The weapon master nodded. Down below, soldiers and rebels were brawling amongst the armory's buildings. The gold dragons had poured through the entrance the moment the gates were opened. Marcellus' strength was needed there. So he sprinted across the wall, dropped down onto a roof, and hurtled towards the battle.
At the edge of the building he sprang. Sunderer bit into mail, flesh, and bone before his boots hit the ground. She was as magnificent as the day he'd first seen her...
"What do you think, boys?"
A collective cackle followed the question. It rang in Marcellus' ears as he rounded the forest path and came in sight of the little band. Half a dozen men and women in black and scarlet leather garb were standing around an orc's corpse, five with guilty red swords and daggers in their fists. The sixth was brandishing a polearm above his head. Marcellus' eyes fastened on the splendid weapon. A single glance told him that it didn't belong in the bandit's wretched hands. That was almost blasphemous.
"Hey!" one of the women said. "Another for the taking!"
The band turned to Marcellus as one. He drew his swords.
They were unskilled, and in moments it was over. Six fresh corpses leaked their lifeblood into the dirt and dust. Marcellus examined the orc, but it was too late to do him any good. His mighty thews would never wield steel again. The weapon master growled -- for all the orc's wounds were in his back.
"Cowards!" He spat on the ground.
Marcellus cleaned his swords, and inspected each blade before returning it to its sheath. Only then did he pick up the fallen polearm. The moment he felt her weight in his hands, he knew.
***
"It's best if you're the watcher," you mutter under your breath. "The next best thing is knowing that you're being watched."
Those remembered words, once spoken by your tutor in the assassin's arts, come to mind when you feel the weight of another's gaze on you. Any warrior who ignores those instincts will...
You spin round and catch the missile.
...likely get an arrow through the neck.
"Bloody hell!" someone says. "%He%... %He%..."
An awestruck bowman rises from the bushes. His companions detach themselves from the surrounding foliage.
"%He% caught the bloody arrow!"
The others look just as perturbed by your display, and advance with slow, wary steps. Good. If they fear you they'll make mistakes...
===Conclusion===
"This is yours," you say.
You drive the arrow down at the horrified archer. Unlike you, he doesn't manage to catch it with his hand. He catches it with his subclavian artery instead.
Category:Blood of Heroes