"storm," too far away to see exactly what they are doing.

As you are looking up, trying to keep steady as the mass of people are trying to push past you, you hear a voice call out. You do not know exactly what the voice said, but a moment later, you then hear a gunshot from somewhere to your left.

You instinctively duck and turn to see a form fly by you to crash into the ground. Then, El'lans and his eidolon take positions by you, forming a triangle with you, "Pay attention, captain!"

Looking around, you can now see the forms of robed men and women hovering around the square, holding various weapons, ready to attack. It looks like they are about to attack the first person they see, and they have plenty of targets, since the square has not even cleared out a fraction of the people that were in there.

A far cry from his relaxed and cheerful demeanor, Drallic assumed a stance of hardened fury. He stomped his right hoof down upon the stone ground, cracking it with the audible splintering of pebble. His heavy arms curled into large fists; his head and snout leaned downward as if pointing his horns towards an enemy.

"Aye, aye! Ya don't need to tell me," he snapped back at El'lans with a harsher and serious voice. Drallic hadn't been ready for... something to attack Argenta, but he was more than willing to adapt on a dime; that's what it meant to be a pirate. And it only took Drallic a moment to assess the situation. This would be a bloodbath if these invaders are left free to kill everyone in sight. And it certainly would be much easier to prevent if the square wasn't crowded.

"Split up!" He shouted an order to his fellow captain before he charged northward; his hooves stomped with great strength and, surprisingly, greater speed. In fact, despite his size, Drallic was easily weaving and moving through the hysteric, rampant crowd without crashing into them.

Before one robed figure knew it, Drallic was already right up next to them, cracking his heavy, furred knuckles together. "Wrong day to pick a fight," he said, speaking like a cold devil to his soon-to-be victim.

As you approach the robed figure, you can see that there does seem to be a person under it, an elf in fact, but their body seems off. It seems to be kind of whirling within its hood, as if it was not made of flesh but an approximation of it. At your words, they let out a hiss that sounds like a hurricane. Wielding a blade in each hand, it prepares to charge at you, but you have the first move.

STOMP, STOMP

Drallic's hoof shattered the stone ground once, then twice, before the figure could bring its blades up to swing. While minotaurs were known for their mighty charges, Drallic acted as if he needed no momentum. From the first step, his heavy, bulky frame dashed at full speed with a crushing, demonic-like grimace toward his bizarrely unelven, elven foe.

And in just a blink, his right fist reeled back and swung out forward at the figure's gut.

You feel your fist go completely through the figure, yet it does not go through the robe. It is as if there is nothing within the robes. Despite this, the figure does cry out in pain and blows away as if caught in a breeze. When the robes fall to the ground, there is no figure within them anymore.

Somewhere behind you, you hear El'lans let out a cheerful yell. Turning around, you can see him aim his longsword at one of the figures still floating around. For some, this would have looked strange as there was no way he could attack with a sword at a target that is across the square. Yet, you know differently. From the barrel welded to the blade was a spark and large _BOOM_ as a nearly imperceptible lead ball blasted4dF+3 was rolled to get 4 ([0, -1, 1, 1] + 3) from what is, in fact, a gun barrel.

The shot slammed into the robe, ripped into the fabric, then seemed to get stuck within. Again, there is a cry of pain, this one sounding like a tornado, and the figure falls down closer to the ground, but they still float.

But, they are now close enough for El'lans' eidolon to charge forward, legs pumping with a strength found in few creatures. Within seconds, the armored warrior was on top of the figure, slamming their blade4dF+0 was rolled to get: 1 ([1, 1, -1, 0] + 0)

NOTE: Was Added/Modified From Editting! down upon the luckless target.

The figure was ready, though, and blocked the powerful blow by hitting it to the side, causing the greatsword to cut into the stone of the square.

Now, you can see that all three of the figures have turned their heads toward you all, splitting their attention between their three new threats. Each figure flies toward an individual, one on you, one on El'lans and one on the eidolon. The one on you, using a bayonetted musket, fires at you without taking any time to aim. The other two, wielding melee weapons dive down upon their targets and do not stop before thrusting.

El'lans was able to dodge it, side-stepping the thrust easily. However, the eidolon was not fast enough, its armor slowing it down considerably. It takes the thrust to its shoulder but holds its ground, the weapon still lodged.

Like a keen eagle... with two large hooves, large horns, and an overly large bovine body, Drallic caught eye of the musket and instinctively spread his legs back and crouched down on one hand. The shot flew past his horns, above the panicked and fleeing citizens of Argenta, and tunneled an inch into a stone wall of a nearby building.

The attempted attack gave Drallic a reason to move, which was always to his advantage. Unlike heavily-armored fighters, the minotaur always, always kept on the move in battle. It wasn't like him to stay in one place, even in a crowded city square.

And with a strange figure firing at him, he had to remain as mobile as possible.

He gave a small smirk, recognizing their reaction to pain, as he dashed forward and throw a quick and awesome4dF+4 was rolled to get 2 ([0, 0, -1, -1] + 4) blow of his fist.

Your blow is powerful. So powerful that it sends the figure flying across the square-turned-battlefield. The figure slams into one of the stores, sending stone and wood flying. They stand up, struggling as they do, and you rush up to them, ready to strike again.

El'lans, seeing the figure you punched across the field almost dead, he turns to it and lets loose with another shot4dF+3 was rolled to get 3 ([1, -1, 0, 0] + 3), this time from his other gun. The figure tried to use the debris from the shop to block the shot4dF was rolled to get -1 ([-1, 1, -1, 0] + 0). However, they were way too slow, and the lead ball pierces through the figure's head, dissolving them and blowing them away like a breeze.

The eidolon, still with the figure's blade in its shoulder, lifted its fist to slam it4dF was rolled to get 0 ([-1, 0, 1, 0] + 0) into the figure's face. The attack was not aimed well, and it did not have the leverage it needed, however the figure was not expecting it. The punch connected with the figure's cheek and caused it to stumble away, taking its weapon with it.

The two remaining figures, one next to El'lans and the other next to the eidolon, swing, thrust and chop at their respective targets, hoping to get their targets down fast. But now both El'lans and his eidolon were warmed up and ready. Nothing the figures did could break through their defenses.

Drallic's hooves stomped upon the wood splinters and stone pebbles as he rushed at the open hole. The figure was lucky, in a way, to have experienced Drallic's power first-hand. He had both strength and speed over most of his opponents. It's how he defeated his foes: outperform them and their equipment with his natural might. And given his inclination against manmade weapons and armor, he absolutely had to push his body as far as it could go.

And the mysterious figure, presumably, hadn't expected it. Or perhaps it didn't care; Drallic couldn't tell what was going through their minds. Not that it could react to the reborne's shot across the area. "You shouid've known who yer up against," he said to the dissipated creature with a foul tone, beguilded by his smile under the shadows. Drallic turned away, more concerned for his crew than finding out what these things were.

"I had that one, Cap'n!" Drallic yelled in a joyful shout across the open area. Amidst the rampant and fleeing crowd he could barely make out El'lans and his eidolon... Oh, and it had a blade stuck to it.

Just another day in the life of a... summoned thing. One day, El'lans will tell Drallic what it actually is.

Seeing an opportunity, the minotaur's tail brushed the ground in anticipation before he charged at the figure attacking El'lans. With heavy stomps across Argenta's stone floor, Drallic's bovine head leaned over and forcefully rammed4dF+3 was rolled to get 5 ([1, 0, 0, 1] + 3) his horns to swing it across the city square!

You felt your horns enter the form, then your head bashes into it, again not feeling solid, and you rush through it. As you manage to stop your momentum and turn around, you see that the figure is dissolving just like the others had, letting out a scream that sounds more like a storm than anything man-made.

"There you go!" El'lans calls back to you, grinning as you both prepare to attack the remaining figure, "You got one! Man, I do one little thing for you..."

Saying that, he charges forward, his blades at his side, toward the very last figure in the square. Moving through the crowd does not seem difficult for him. Instead of your tactic of just bowling through people, expecting them to get out of your way, he slides around people like a ghost, so much so that no one even realizes he is there. When he reaches the eidolon and figure fighting, he sheathes one of his weapons, leaps over the eidolon using its shoulder, and thrusts his longsword4dF+3 was rolled to get 3 ([1, -1, -1, 1] + 3) right at the figure's head.

The move was very unexpected, even to you, and the figure did not have a chance before the blade sinks in to the hilt. The blast of wind from the scream blasts El'lans back and to the ground, but the figure dissipates. His eidolon takes a brief moment to help El'lans up before it takes the blade out of its shoulder.

With the immediate threat gone, the square starts to clear quickly and without further incident. Looking up, you can see that the dome is still being pelted by the wind columns, but so far is holding. It was made to stand up to worse elemental storms, and not even a concentrated assault is breaking it down so far. However, you think you see that the dome is starting to lose intangibility. It's so faint that you wonder if it is just a trick of the eyes, but El'lans steps up to you and mutters, "That might be a problem."

Drallic brushed off his furred arms as the square clears up. On any normal day, he would've figured this little more than a few bandits attacking the wrong place at the wrong time. But even besides the strange, ghostly, automaton-like figures, this wasn't a normal day. His brown fur stuck outward in anxious anticipation as he looked up at the strange elemental storm... No, it wasn't entirely a storm, is it?

"Hells alive, that thing ain't gonna hold," he noted to El'lans with a grim tone. "We got cultists hittin' us." He didn't doubt his statement. It only took a careful moment of intuition to recognize what he's seeing. And he didn't particularly like the way it was attacking Argenta's dome. "Damn worshippers of the Air Lord..." He felt a small pain from his many scars, a reminder of an old, unfortunate travesty he had with a prior airstorm.

"Those things," he pointed to where the last strange figure was before it had been bashed into oblivion, "are some of 'em. Believe hard enough and they'll 'come part air." The way Drallic put it could've included some semblance of snark were he not completely serious.

He quickly looked around, seeing Argenta's guards occupied with more of those cultists. "Get the crew together," he instructed El'lans with an increasingly determined tone, "we're gonna chase that storm." Drallic liked acting on his feet. Sometimes, he took a moment to carefully consider his options. But he didn't have time to do a lot of that. Instead, he had to act now and get moving, hell damn him for it.

At least he can get a little revenge...

El'lans looked up to the sky, noticing all of what you had noticed, and nodding with your words. His eyes trail up to the dome and stay there for a bit, twitching at every new motion. His eidolon was doing the same, except that it also observed your immediate surroundings, making sure nothing snuck up on you.

"Honestly, the crew is probably fighting their way back to the ship right now." He said, reloading his weapons without looking, the experiences of decades fueling his movements, "But we can grab anyone that we find along the way. Now, since we are on the opposite side of the city from the dock, we have two main paths." He points toward the path leading south of the square, "We can follow the path, moving through the squares. It will take longer, but I do not see as many of the cultists attacking there. Possibly just some stragglers who wanted something to attack. Or..." His finger follows his body as he twists to point at the massive walled building in the middle of the city, directly east of you, "We can take the direct route by the Repository. It'll be much shorter than the squares, but it looks like the main force of the cultists are attacking it."

He gives you a shrug as he anticipates your question, "My choice would be the squares. It will take us a while, but it'll give our crew time to return to the ship, and we will be fighting a force that we know we can handle easily."

As if amused, Drallic gave his fellow captain a tiny nudge with his huge arm. "Squares? Really? I Thought I was the sensible one