Rhea landed gracefully next to the other archers who were covering her and their other comrades when she heard a noise coming from inside of the Town Hall. She cursed under her breath and signaled for the four archers to follow her, the other two could do the same or continue to rest, it didn't matter to Rhea. The group made their way to the front of the Town Hall where Rhea shoved the doors open and peered inside. There was already an arrow nocked in her bow before the doors came to a complete stop and she took a few steps within. A jerk of her chin signaled for the other archers to do the same, otherwise they may fall prey to the bats with their backs turned.

The dwarf grunted, taking a sip of his coffee then a smoke from his pipe. He tapped out the ash and stocked it again, lighting it and sticking the pipe back in his mouth. "Guess we'll be stickin with lassie and dwarf fer now then. I best be gettin back ta work. Thanks for the coffee changeling." Rudolph got up and made his way back to the forge, his hard-of-hearing preventing him from hearing the footsteps above him as he continued his forging process.

Rabbit didn't have any time to spare, but he gave a slight nod of approval at Aurea before sprinting where Lera was.

Just as he was about to go in, however, Rabbit slowly took out a tiny glass bottle of an alcohol similar to brandy, just so he didn't get jumped on. He had too many experiences before.

Swallowing the contents, Rabbit staggered back, but then steadied with a smile on his face. "Woo, now dat's some real good stuff right dere."

Slowly creeping around, he heard the slightest sound of.. some liquid, like raindrops dripping on the floor.

"Lera, my friend, are you there? 'Promis I won't kill yeh. Just a ol' rabbit."

Rabbit felt the slightest bit anxious, so he cautiously tip-toed about, ears perking, eyes glancing. The alcohol should make his reaction speeds fast enough to counter any attack, but better safe then dead.

Visage's muscles tensed at the sound of footsteps, though they vanished just as quickly as they began. He knew he heard them. He grew up in the wild, where every sound could mean life or death. Often even the mere breathing of a predator was all the warning you would get. His ears were certainly tuned to pick up on danger.

He raised a single finger to indicate the need for silence, then stood on top of the metal he had been sitting upon. As he drew close enough to touch the ceiling, he cast a spell swiftly, passing through the floor partially, just enough to raise his eyes and ears through the material. The spell would last for only a few minutes and he knew he was nearly out of casting abilities that day, so he scanned the room and listened as best he could, focusing his sharp senses to become even sharper.

_________________________________________________

**Cast Passwall
Total Essence Channeled: 105 (might be a number or two off).

A figure emerged from the entranceway, and Lera poised to strike. A single whack to the head would put an end to any threat, especially a werewolf-figure. Instinctively, the young woman leapt toward with her blade raised to strike.

Rhea stepped into the hall and found it in complete tatters. The sofa and chairs were all over the place and the paintings were torn down. The rest of the archers slowly followed the ranger inside, cautiously looking around.

"Where's the mayor?" one of the archers mumbled to another, only to recieve a shrug from the others. Another sound of a struggle kept them on their toes as a chair was flung out of the corridor which lead towards the mayor's office.

"Go, sir!" cried a voice and the mayor was seen running out of the hall.

"Praise the Wings you're here!" The mayor muttered, short on breath. "The...boy. The boy, he's fending them off! Help him please!"

As if on cue, Nocturn was flung to the end of the hall, his body crashing through the wooden wall and out into the city itself. Sliding into view were two large rodent like creatures with blood matted grey fur and wiry tails moving about: wererats.

Nearby, Rabbit approached the deafened Lera. The paranoia had clung to the woman like the screech that took her hearing, she could hear it. The incessant ringing. In a quick flash, she struck at the man with a decent hit on the shoulder. It took a moment before the woman realized she had hit an ally.

Meanwhile, Aurea was busy. She began to mow down the lycanthrope like it was a dance with multiple partners. Exchanging partners was as easy as slitting their throats or guts, a simple pirouette signalle the loss of limb and a flourish of her body showed nothing but poise and bloodshed. Sir Dreimon was caught mouth agape for a moment before actually continuing to fight again. Suddenly, several bats descended on the ground forces their screeches stunning their targets, some succeeded in grabbing them and outright dropping them off at bone breaking heights.


Visage wasn't the only one who had heard the sound of footsteps. Esther, Mari and the disciple of Soramaru had heard it, putting them all in alert. As the druid poked his head out, he saw nothing but darkness, the cogs of the church that they had thought to be designs were moving and faintly glowing, as if serving a purpose. He looked to the left to find nothing but shadow and to the right, the same thing. He breathed slightly and turned around and saw a huddled figure at the very edge of the church's entrance. He wasn't sure what it was, but it was vaguely human.

"Oh FERIANNE!" It was Rabbit, the historian! He was not part of the wolves, he was one of the preys, like us. Lera immediately let go of her blade to dash toward the wounded man. However, the moment the blade was let go, her grip on her essence loosened and it slipped away, leaving Lera with an onset of physical exhaustion. She lost her footing and was going to crash to the ground, but adrenaline pushed her to hold her stance, barely. Guilt flooded over her for her mistake, but it did not matter. Now, she must hold her composure and assist everyone to her best.

"My apologies, Bunny boy. Dazed, confused and deaf right now." She pointed at her left ear, showing a streak of dry blood, "Can't hear, but can read lips, so speak slowly. Are you hurt badly?" All the while she felt the historian's injured shoulder, slowly feeling out any broken bones. She also took off her cloak to make a makeshift sling for her comrade.

"Raise your arm gently. I'll help patch you up quickly."

For a split second Rabbit staggered back, but he quickly recovered with a slight grin on his face.
Speaking one word slowly at a time, he replied in a southern twang, a bit softer than usual.

"I'm not hurt that bad, Lera! Golly, I came here to help yew, not the other way around. I need to ask if you ok, not the other way around."
Raising his arm, he kept up the chatter.

"I saw that you wuz not in the greatest of shapes, so I came to check on yeh. Your knight friend is tearin the beasts outside."
"Dang, you are one of the fastest I've encountered, not many people can catch me out like that," Rabbit chuckled. "And I've fought just about everythin."

Seeing Lera exhausted, Rabbit quickly offered his uninjured arm for support.

Rhea looked over everything quickly and spotted her bag still near where the couch was. She didn't give a damn about anyone here or these damn monsters, but her bag was rather important to her and her survival. A wooden arrow was fired at one of the rats as soon as she saw it, and then another, and another, and another as she made her way over to her bag. Rhea exclaimed to the others, "after we clear this building out, make sure the wounded and those unable to fight take cover." She couldn't help feeling like they were being played for fools by being here, but here they were anyway.

After Lera made quick work of the wound, which seem to be minor bruising, she had the sling be loose and easily removable with a single motion for convenience sake. It would also easily slip out if grabbed ahold of. No wolves would be able to take advantage of this sling, she hoped.

Seeing Rabbit's offered hand, she shook it with confidence. Then she went to grab her own wooden blade. She noticed a sword inside the building she's in, possibly a soldier's abode now that she paid attention. A few pieces of armor strewn around, with a few backup blades at the back.

She snatched one and approached Rabbit.

"Need a potion for your eyes? It will allow you to pierce the darkness like those lycanthropes. For both of us." She showed him a bottle, golden liquid inside. To an untrained eye, it's like a bottle of human waste. But Lera wouldn't say that out loud.

Aware that the time on his spell was slipping away, he almost cast telepathy, but then decided against it. He was almost out of channeling, and wanted to make sure he could unseal the basement if need be. After a brief moment of focus told him he still had about a half-hour on his Meld with Material spell, he pulled himself up into the church until he was standing, but being careful to remain hidden. As he rose from the ground, he changed his form and skin into a complete matte black, increasing his size so that he appeared well over double his normal body size in all dimensions.

He addressed the shape, having lengthened his vocal cords as well, causing his voice to rumble deeply as he spoke.

"Who or what are you, and do you come in peace to this holy temple?"

Aurea kept dashing around, bestowing upon her victims no more than few seconds of her precious time before landing a finishing blow and moving on. She was a very fastidious partner in dance, and it seemed like no werebeast could match her tempo and rhythm. After all, she was also the conductor dictating those, and her sword was the leading instrument. The knight herself was somewhat rapt with the spectacle. It was with no doubt a familiar sensation, all of this. The sound, the smell, tension of bodies and clash of strengths. I was so familiar, that almost pleasant. Like experiencing an odd, twisted version of nostalgia. There were missing pieces in this puzzle however, and it didn't take long for the undead to start figuring what it could be...

With one fluent swing, she had slit the throat of yet another beast in front of her, and using the remaining momentum pirouetted around quickly adjusting her footwork, and slashed at torso of the beast that attempted to attack her rear side, ripping it wide open. That was also the moment the bats have launched their attack. While she only winced and slightly wobbled at the screech, numbing the feeling within, the others were less resistant to the effect, and were not expecting it. "Have your archers finally get rid of these things!" The knight took off her helmet for a moment and yelled across the battlefield, hoping her booming voice would reach the captain, or anyone else capable. It would most likely do so, as her usual soft speaking voice could easily become a roar tearing even through the loudest turmoil of the battle. A useful ability for someone in command, no doubt. "Get them down, protect them with your men! Take away from the line if you have to!" Not expecting any response, she put her helmet back on, and turned around, gaze sweeping across the bodies of lycanthrope around her, ready to pile them up even higher.

Rhea's arrows hit their marks as she grabbed her bag. The rest of the archers moved in to continue the attack but the lycans threw themselves through the hole where Nocturn had punched through. The archers attempted pursuit but decided not to at the last second instead going back to the mayor's side.

"Are you okay, sir?" One of the archers ask as they heaved the old man onto a sofa chair.

"Where is Nocturn?" the mayor quickly asks. "The boy saved my life, where is he?"

"He wasn't there, mayor." Another replied.

"Then he must be fleeing," the mayor coughed. "May Amadea see him through."

Meanwhile, outside of the townhall, Aurea kept her assault on the lycans. Her orders were heard by Sir Dreimon amidst the chaos of steel and claw. With a resounding command of his own, he called the attention of the archers and militia to focus their attention on the skyward threat.

"Quickly!" He ordered. "Thornfell will not fall to these wretches!"

The militia did what they could as they made a barrier between the lycans and the remaining archers while Fedimian soldiers did most of the work.

Before anything else however, the massive wereboar had appeared once again. This time, he had a corpse in tow. It was the mad knight; killed and mutilated. Aurea took note of the beast as it bellowed into the night sky. The rest of the lycans responded with their own animalistic sound and began to retreat. The bats immediately dropped whoever they had on hand and left he scene while the wolves broke off from combat and ran off. A few stray arrows shot down some of the lycans but Sir Dreimon ordered a ceasefire.

"Hold!" He yelled, raising a fist. "They're retreating."

The wereboar took one look at the city before finally charging back into the forest.

The fedimian captain was confused though and looked to Aurea, searching her face if she too was confused but before he could bring it up, another thing that was more urgent than the odd retreat was the wounded. "Gather the wounded! Tend to their wounds! We've still got moonlight shining on us, hurry!"

The militia and soldiers did as they were told. The night was silent once more.


The shadow didn't reply, except it continued to whimper in its corner. Even under the faint glow of the church's machinery, the druid could only make that it was for sure, human; a female with disheveled long hair. She kept her face dug in her palms as she scooted into the corner.

"They're after me..." she muttered. "I don't want any trouble!"

The wolf that had turned its back to her, has been impaled as soon as he did so, and over his collapsing body Aurea could observe what made the beast commit such a foolish move. The pack leader that she had hoped died, came back. With him, he had the body of the mad knight. Dead. At first the knight just grit her teeth at that fact alone, before deeper thought of what it meant, as the beasts began their retreat taking that one body with them. She had a wild urge to chase after, continue the bloodshed, see where they came from and remove the problem at its root. She remained put however, lowering her sword and removing her helmet observing the fall back with a frown.

"We haven't pushed them back...They've got what they came for..." She murmured. Despite the sheer numbers of lycanthrope bodies just around her, she showed not a smallest sign of exhaustion. No panting, no trembling of muscle. Not even a drop of sweat had appeared on her face, that should've at least reddened a little from effort. Nothing. The only clue telling that she even fought right now, was her armor, repainted with crimson.

The knight turned around, first grabbing her blade at the rain guard, then slowly moving her hand all the way to the point, removing most of the blood. She then grabbed it by the middle with one hand as she usually did, and marched in direction of town hall. However, noticing another building, she altered her path. Aurea had plenty of things requiring her attention, some more important than he others. For now however, she was heading to Lera's hideout to check on her.