[IRP] The First of Many

[WyvernSlayer]

Satsume recoiled and clasped a hand over his ear as Orica bellowed at their foe. Why did she have to be so loud all the time? He struggled to keep his attention focused on the ones in front of him. Orica was shouting so loudly that he couldn’t hear the commands being shouted to the other group. All he could make out was a slight flash of light… and the subsequent fireball that came hurdling toward the gate.

“Whoa!” Satsume didn’t ever recall moving as quickly in the past as he did right then. He lunged with all his might to his right side, plowing into Orica as she raised her spear to defend the village. Satsume felt the back plates of his armor get hot, then… really hot. It was as though someone had strapped a bolt of lightning to his back. He wailed in pain as he flew through the air, eventually slamming to the ground on top of Orica as the molten missile shrieked past them and down along the road.

Though his backside felt as though it was on fire, Satsume picked himself up off of Orica and brought his spear up crossways - just in time to intercept the vertical slash of an opportunistic bandit. The spear was poorly angled, and he was just barely able to parry the blade away from burying itself in his shoulder. Instead, it scraped against his shoulder plate. Satsume was too off-balance to punish the bandit’s follow-through – stepping back would put him back on top of Orica again, whom he could only imagine was none too happy about being blindside tackled by a guy she didn’t like.

“Help!” Satsume mustered, struggling to establish his balance as the bandit prepared to attack again.