Viper already had a nocked arrow on his bow as he thought about what had been said. He already knew he was a monster, and he didn't know the land around here very well if at all. He would probably hit the monster in the head with an arrow if it weren't for the fact that he hadn't truly made a move yet. He took the words 'prepare' as a command to ready his arrow further, and thus he did so.

He drew back his arrow, his eyes locking onto the rather frightening man's head. Quickly making sure that his arrow was poisonous, he put his legs in a good position for firing, slowing his breathing and fixing his bow onto the area of his sight ((Monter's head if you're wondering)) and almost completely stilling himself.

"Awaiting permission to fire," was all he said. In a position where someone he knew-very slightly or not-was in danger, he had a dead seriousness about him. Especially when one person was so worried about it... somehow he just knew. He knew that this was a very dangerous man that he stood no chance against. A feeling, if you will. He knew that he had to retreat with everyone else given the chance, and his anger wasn't going to get himself killed.

As an ex-assassin, he should know that you shouldn't let feelings get in the way of killing targets, even if it was just to get revenge.

OoC: Whoa whoa WHOA, slow down!

It was very obvious what had happened after Dartreigh had observed the others. There was a foul stench in the air which he recognized, but had never felt so strongly before. He let out a breath in disgust, he had gotten somewhere in communicating, and this incident just got in the way. The corpse wasn't very easy to look at, and it wasn't too comforting to know a huge man just killed him with merely his arm, although he thought it was possible he concealed a weapon of some sort to look more intimidating.
Dart wasn't a fearless man, but he felt rather confident with the significantly different people around him. He was versatile enough to be both range and melee, however, simply throwing his javelin probably wouldn't work, no matter how lightning fast and accurately he would have done it, the gigantic foe would likely have extremely fast reflexes; even if he didn't, the risk of losing his primary weapon was too great to ignore, after all, only his head was exposed, which Dart wasn't even sure if it was shielded by a helmet or not.

Things had happened a bit too fast, so it took him a few moments before he collected himself and took a short leap backwards to grab his javelin and nonchalantly walk to the front lines. He readied his weapon, but in a melee stance. It was very clear he didn't plan to throw it, besides, two archers were plenty, not to mention the female had some sort of concoction on the tip of her arrows which obviously set things on fire. He planned to hesitate for just a split second to observe what sort of thing their foe would do to defend himself, and he just might think of something within that moment to pierce it.

((I need to stop making long posts.))

Isaac had barely begun his sprint before an arm shot out to obstructed him. Despite the fury filling his very veins, the knight slowed himself to a stop next to.. Marnid, was it? with his blade still raised. It was only then did Isaac notice there was no sword in Thenzas' hand; he had cut the man in two with his forearm, it would seem. The impossibility was apparent, even for a man with the power to decimate an entire army of men alone, and yet it was before his very eyes. Marnid then began to speak, "Hold, ser Knight, we are too few and unprepared," he had stated coldly. Did he not see the rotting corpse before them, the culprit in plain view? "I doubt your sword could cut open that bastard. If you would be so kind, we should fetch the others." He continued, earning a begrudging nod from the knight. Another man brandishing a bow emerged from the tent, though Isaac hadn't noticed him until Marnid returned to the tent; presumably to gather the rest of the occupants. Tiandra joined the trio just as the club-wielding Marnid began to lay out a battle plan. "We should form two lines if possible, ranged members at the rear, and those who can handle melee at the front. Nock an arrow but do not draw. If they draw their weapons against us, you are free to fire at your own discretion."

It was a sound plan, though tactics alone would not bring victory against a legion of soldiers and the god-like man commanding them. The knight was determined to slay the tyrant or die trying, however, and he likely would not have much more patience. A woman's voice then emerged from the tent, "Thenza is a monster!" It shouted; there was no doubting that. "He'll kill you without a second thought in a heartbeat! Look at what he did to that man!" and indeed she was correct, yet such an inhumane being had to have a weakness, be it the chinks in his armor or his obviously deranged state of mind. "You best listen to the whore!" Thenza called, continuing with his unwavering voice. "I do not need an army to devastate your little makeshift band of scum!" or at least this was what he thought as he commanded his legion to fall back after a long and cruel laughter. Thenza was treating this as a mere game, though it likely was in his delusional mind. This brought the same anger to the knight, but he was not blind enough to charge the tyrant; at least not yet. "Ser Knight, I hope you know where to aim for in the chinks of his armour," Marnid said offhandedly. He was unfamiliar with the breastplate Thenza was wearing, yet his head was a blatant enough target anyway. "Prepare to conduct a fighting retreat. Aim to cripple him but if you can, take his head. Watch for his arms, you saw what he did to the man." He continued as Isaac gave a subconscious nod and waited for his supposed allies to make a move before he made his own, though he would not for long.

Every member this the ragtag band of travelers made their stand, except for Sigrun. She could not even fathom standing in a single line, waiting to be killed by Thenza, the South himself. Against her better judgment, she gave in and emerged from the tent, her emerald necklace glowing brilliantly in the light of the sun. Gripping the hilt of her lustrous Kard, she readied it at her side, but she hung around the back rows with the ranged members, unwilling to step further ahead with her inadequate confrontational abilities.

A fierce wind howled, kicking up a blinding sandstorm. Around sixty percent visibility was lost to the group, ninety percent to those wearing helms or visors. The sand scathed those wearing no armor, through creating little pain compared to the sheer annoyance.

Thenza found this an opportune moment to switch strategies, calling forward his massive legion to stand a few feet from the opposing band. Due to the visibility loss, neither side knew the exact location of one another, leading to a temporary curtain. When the storm would die down, the group would be faced with the daunting Imperial Legion. Thenza smirked as he made his was back towards his capital. It was a despicable strategy, but he was no coward, for who else could rule a society like the Southern Kingdom better than he? It was mandated by fate that he should survive, heaven demanded it. However, Thenza could have fought them, and he could have killed them with no trouble, due to his secret for becoming seemingly invincible.

OOC: I'm just assuming everyone left already.

Seeing that everyone had went, Harvey finally prepared himself. It wasn't as if he needed to keep it a secret anymore, he started to feel that Vincent was just a facade, or at least, was someone that was so boring to live as, and the criminal exhilarating to be. He opened the bag, and in it, the clothing, weapons,mask, and noose he so loved to wear. Hastily wearing them, he took a few seconds to adjust the bandages, despite not actually needed them .

“Wished I had something more...better.” he muttered, wearing his Cestus and hiding the knives in his sleeves. He hadn't thought of actually confronting a armored foe, his weaponry was used mostly against unarmored, and suprised foes, and for stealth purposes. Likewise, his clothing was for mobility, and could hardly last a hit against a sword, or forbid, a spear. He also wasn't as dangerous as the identity he took, he can land solid and quick blows, and the cestus protect his hands enough to parry some blows (if he didn't have a knife), but otherwise is untrained.

He sneaked out of the tent, and saw a sandstorm erupting. He was slightly used to this kind of weather, so he could see a little bit better than others with helms or any other face obscuring item.

Just then the wind picked up, kicking up a ridiculous amount of dust and and sand. Though visibility dimmed to the point of hopelessness, Marnid could well imagine what Thenza could have done in that space of time. What surprised him was the fact that Thenza did not do anything save retreat. The figure in the distance blurred and melted in to the swirling, stinging mist. That was all Marnid could see but that surely was not the whole picture. A man like Thenza would not simply retreat would he? What else could he do? Then the dismissed legionnaires crept in to his thought. Thenza was one man but a legion was many and even with the courageous souls he managed to rouse, they were no doubt too few to defeat the legion today.

Marnid had to come up with a plan, and fast, before the winds finally died down. He would not allow himself to be caught unprepared.

((OOC: Question, how do you want us to handle combat with mooks?))

OOC: Skill level is high among the legion. There will also be no one hit kills due to armor.

I'll wait for some more people to react before continuing.

Tiandra looked back as the other girl stated that Thenza was a monster, it was as if her thoughts had been vocalized, for that was exactly what she thought. Though it wasn't like they could retreat, and what of the remaining people? Were they to fall victim to the tyrant's arm? Normally she could care less about the outcomes of others, simply shrugging them off as a bad turn on the wheel of fate. Though to suffer at Thenza's hands, that was too cruel for anyone, especially if it involved dieing the way the corpse that lay on the ground had.

Carefully removing the arrow from her bow she put out the flame, it would do no use to use one of her flaming arrows. She wouldn't be surprised if Thenza managed to catch them with his bare hands before throwing them back at her himself. The thought was actually frightening, how one could become so strong, she would never know, or so she thought. Quickly replacing the black powered arrows with lower grade ones which she stuck into her belt. Marnid said they would have to retreat, though to where, she did not know. There was nowhere to go, they were in a desert there were no bushes to hide in or any trees to climb, it was rather frustrating.

A wind began to stir, quickly racing to speeds that swirled the sand violently around her, and visibility dimmed. Thenza's figure dissipated as the sandstorm viciously roared around them. Tiandra had read of them in books at one time, though being inside one was quite the experience. She could barely keep her eyes open, sand and small pebbles whirled around, annoyingly brushing against her consecutively.

"Well that was convenient" stated Tiandra aloud, though she doubted anyone would have heard it for the wind seemed to tear her very voice away from her. Well conditions such as these typically weren't ideal for long range flight, however she also had an idea.

"If we shoot into the wind!" she yelled "The arrows will strike the legionaries from another direction, hopefully deceiving them into believeing that we came from the direction of where the arrows came!"

As he had claimed, things like this sandstorm didn't bother Dartreigh, although it did obscure his vision; the hair covering his eyes just filtered the sand and other things being blown into his face, and he didn't mind the stinging of it along his exposed skin. He was still rather alert, since his original range of vision just reduced to a fraction, anything could pop up and attack him. Taking a deep breath would have been a bad idea, since he'd rather keep his lungs free of sand.

In a few moments, he heard a short comment which was shredded by the sounds of the wind, he couldn't recognize it. The same voice then spoke again, which he could process clearly, and he could guess it was the female archer with the burning arrows. Unfortunately, he has no experience with arrows, so he wasn't sure if the plan would work or not; wouldn't it take a lot of calculating to actually shoot one into the unpredictable wind and hit a legionnaire from a different direction? It would take some really favorable wind to actually redirect it that way. Then again, there were tons of them, and they weren't very far, so it would probably work, there wasn't any reason to object anyway.

He considered using his flimsy throwing knives to help, but they would probably come back and strike him or go too far off course to hit anything. They're seeming more and more useless each time he thinks about them, he wasn't a very good shot anyway. Something like a simple dagger would have been a better idea, but he can't complain now.

"I have no reason to object, but are you sure we can actually manage that?" he replied, as loud as he could without seeming like he was screaming. Some of the words were harder to project, but it was pretty easy to fill them in.

OOC: f*** f*** f***
I'll catch up tomorrow, I'm still busy.

((So we can dictate combat as we please as long as we follow the above?))

OOC: I'll allow the group to struggle against the legion. After all, there is basically more than they can handle.

((now would be a great time to post, Kittenpuncher.))

As the final straggler inside the tent emerged to join the ragtag militia-the frightened girl, Isaac noted--, winds began to howl around them, creating a fierce sandstorm at the most inconvenient time possible as if it had been sent from hell itself. The enemy they faced was certainly no less then a demon, and no doubt he would be even harder to slay in such conditions; but the storm could work for them with some careful planning. The knights' already small field of vision was decreased to mere feet in front of him, though the unique helm design seemed to help slightly. Stray pebbles pinged off of the knights' armor, easily giving his position away; not to mention his allies. The tides were truly against them and no doubt a retreat would have to be set in place immediately, but at the time Thenza was likely to strike. Isaac shifted his stance as to defend should any blades come out of the sandstorm that raged about them.

Taking a few careful steps forward was all the knight could do at the time, moving perhaps two feet away from the line, when a voice penetrated the sand. "If we shoot into the wind!" a woman's voice yelled, likely the archer. She continued, no doubt allowing sand into her lungs. "The arrows will strike the legionaries from another direction, hopefully deceiving them into believing that we came from the direction of where the arrows came!" It was an unlikely plan, yet better then none and hopefully it could pick off one or two of the legionnaires before they reached melee range. Another voice replied, though the knight disregarded it as little was intelligible so far away. The knight tightened his grip on the lethal blade within his hands, anticipating a strike at any moment.

The storm finally subsided, revealing the rows upon rows of legionaries, the first of which standing only two feet before the party. In each face there was no sign of fear, joy, confusion, nor any other emotion. They were blank statues of men. They did not advance, albeit for one trooper who made his way to the front, right before the group. His uniform was more complex than the standard, noting his rank in the legion. He stared at the group with his blank expression before announcing his total presence.
"Illegal travelers!" his speech began in a ferocious tone, explicating the serious nature of this standoff. "You have trespassed into territory ruled by "Steel Arm" Emperor Thenza without passing through the designated checkpoints! There is no sufficient data which states you have passed the border legally. Due to this fact, you will all be taken into protective custody of the Imperial Legion. However, due to the hostile nature of most of your group, you shall be offered by Thenza to the High Empress Isis. This nomadic village shall be razed, and it's members skinned alive for their actions of treason by not upholding the Pact of Gnosha gardens. You will not resist. All weapons will be confiscated until further notice. Those who break the ceasefire shall be mutilated on the spot."
With his decree finished, he brandished his sword, and signaled for their surrender.

Sigrun stepped forward immediately, her kard held out towards the Legionary as if it were a crown being presented to a king. She didn't want to lose her weapon just yet, but with the size of a legion like this, no chances could be taken.
"Sir, may I keep possession of my book? It is of important value to me." she asked politely. She was truthfully scared out of her wits. If they discovered her connection to the several murders and robberies in the outlying territories in the past, she'd be sentenced to death before she could even "kill the moon."

The man revealed no facial reactions, but instead threw a punch straight into her gut. She fell to the ground immediately, losing grip of the book. He signaled a legionary to seize both the kard and book on the ground. It was a potential weapon, and he specifically ordered that all weapons must be seized, even everyday items.

Sigrun curled into the fetal position and cringed at the shock from the strike.
The legion was not playing around.

OoC: Being killed early really seems possible.

It's ironic that the storm made things feel safer before it dissipated. The sight of hopelessness wasn't very comfortable, Dartreigh didn't see one opportunity to get out of the situation alive without surrendering. When the higher ranked legionnaire had demanded their obedience, just giving up was the first thought in his head. The sick feeling in his stomach grew whenever his mind came up with an image of his corpse. He felt like standing up and make an attempt to reason with them, especially about the part where they would kill people not involved due to their hostility, yet his body failed to make an action. However, there was always the thought in his head something would get him and his fellows away and safe, despite how clearly they were pinned down. He held onto his weapon, but no longer with his offensive stance, it might not be time to drop it so soon. When they had mentioned "Steel Arm" Thenza, he almost chuckled; something about that seemed funny, but he felt like punching himself for not taking his position seriously.
The woman with the knife quickly gave up her weapon, somehow Dart felt relieved, though their condition had just worsened from that. It was probably wise to submit his weapon as well. Maybe... maybe they'll spare us... at least some of us... some of the people here haven't lived out half of their lives yet, it's not worth it to- The legionnaire jabbed the woman in the gut, and Dart cringed. It was reasonable to not let her keep anything, but his method of saying so was too cruel. His perception of the moment merged with the thought of the members of the village dying, he nearly couldn't take in this outrage. As he had said, he liked females in general, watching them suffer in any way always flipped some switch inside him. She... she's a woman! He clenched his teeth; before he would throw away his only hope of surviving, he waited just a few moments to see what the others would do, and tried his best to not do anything insane.