[IRP] Warpath of the Wolf: The Plunder of Khaltet

[A Prolonged Affectionate Hug]

There had been a mass amount of 'stuff' that had happened in a relatively short amount of time. The fact that Salem was more focused on the child in his arms not being axed than his own safety ended up in a sweeping up of events. Less focused on the words of, well, everyone and everything else now that their immediate threat had been (rather gruesomely) terminated; Salem's thoughts of what to do next were quickly thrown out of whack by Maynette's words. Kill him if needed, huh? Clearly they were taking care of some big operation here. Salem had nothing to do with it at first, but he had a request to take care of that had been compromised a little bit. A lot, actually. But he wasn't the type to half-ass these things, not at all.

Smitty grimaced, but nodded to Maynette's retreating back. He turned around again to Salem and the brat, chewing his lip in thought on how to break the news. "So, uh...guy." He glanced down and grimaced, kicking the head of the headless Lycian away from the kid's sight. "Just do me a favor and, uh, don't get involved, yeah? This is important, super important, so...yeah."

"Salem." Once again stating his name, Salem glanced down towards Robert. The poor kid was naturally trembling in fear (shock too, probably) after all that had occurred. He wasn't too good with kids. Or people. Eyes back up at Smitty, Salem shook his head. "...No can do." Figuring it was better to elaborate, rather than just leave it there and have to fight his way out, Salem continued. "I'll help. This is directly linked to my request, in the first place. If I can't find Robert's father, I can at least take him back to his aunt." Another pause, and Salem spoke in a less-hushed, more confident tone. "I can help."

Helping wasn't exactly interferring, but would Maynette see it that way? More importantly, what if Salem grew a conscience halfway through and actually did interfere? Smitty gulped, already seeing Maynette's axe coming for his head. "I dunno, Salem. We ain't lookin' to hurt nobody here, sure, but, uh..." He looked briefly at the brat. "...What you gonna do with 'im until you find his folks?"

That was a good question. At first, Salem didn't have an answer. But rarely did he, when it came to these things. He tended to be a lot more reactive. "...For now, it'll be best to leave him out here. If we succeed in whatever your objective is, I can take him back afterwards. I know where they are, and she's a mage. She should be able to care for him. If not, we'll all be dead anyway." Seemed simple enough. Naturally, he lacked the tact to cull his words around Robert, but that was Salem in a nutshell.

"Well...alright. Just don't get in Maynette's way; she's one crazy b-" Two loud cries interrupted Smitty, coming from behind the wall. Smitty tossed his hammer head-down on the ground and jumped, landing on its handle and using it to haul himself up the wall. He peeked over, but yelped and dropped back down almost instantly. "Shit, she's under attack!"

"If you're gonna help, let's go!" Smitty yelled, then took off running. "Nikang!"

That was fast. But should have been expected too. Robert had heard it all, right? With a small rub of the head and a gentle push to get the kid to let go, Salem drew his broadsword with very little ceremony. He said he'd help them, so he'd help them. Their goals entwined with one another for the time being, after all. Silent charge and nod, Salem followed directly behind Smitty. It was time to back up this crazy bitch.

A few targets to take, but it seemed like the best thing to do would be to assist someone without actually getting in the way. These people swung their axes like crazy, and he could respect that -- it just meant he really didn't want to be in their general swinging trajectory whilst they did their business. Side-by-side with his new buddy as they moved, Salem turned to Smitty with very quick words. "Smitty. She's Maynette, right? We'll flank."

One of the two knights had already been assaulted with by Elisa, but Maynette had yet to actually engage with the second that approached her. But it was a two-on-two situation, in that sense. With the hope that maybe, possibly, the other knight had been distracted by the sudden assault; Salem began to arc around to the east -- looking to catch them off-guard whilst they dealt with the two bandits.

The easiest thing to do was to assist Elisa's more precise aim for a knight's neck. Keeping his body low and accelerating towards the knight, Salem held his blade firmly with both hands as he attempted to circle around the distracted knight, and match Elisa's attack with a horizontal slash of his own towards the back of the knight's neck. He could only hope that the archers wouldn't be able to hit him during the swift movements he made -- Salem's plan was to just keep moving through this chaos.