Fight

Hal observes each of the four bandits, which is what he assumes they are, in turn, starting with the woman. As he first noticed, she's armed with a scimitar on her hip, but he also notices the pommel of a dagger tucked on the small of her back. She wears leather armour dyed a dark green, no helmet, with a forest green scarf around her neck. Her hair, which is dark in colour, is tied back, though a few strands are loose around her face. On closer inspection, he notices her ears are sharp and pointed, she is an elf. Next, he focuses on the bulky man, who appears to be wearing a rusty hauberk. He's tall, easily over six and a half feet, with a bald head and no beard. He appears to only have the maul on his back, but from the size of his muscles, that's all he'll need to take Hal down. The twins are identical to eachother, down to the shortswords in their right hands. Both are about Hal's height, with long dirty blonde hair and scruffy beards, wearing leather cuirasses for protection.

The young ranger narrows his eyes. If there were two, or maybe even three, combatants, he would've been confident to fight them all, but four is pushing his abilities. The large man is by far the biggest threat, at least at the start of the fight. If he can take him down before the others close in on him, he'll have a reasonable chance at winning. He takes a deep breath, preparing himself for what comes next.

"Well?" The elf asks. She seems to be the leader, and likely the second most important target. The twins can wait. "I asked you a question."

"Yes, you did." Hal nods. Without warning, he lunges forward, swinging his axe into the bulky man's shoulder. The blade glances off the man's chain shirt, but still causes him to grunt in pain. At the same time, Hal draws a dagger from his boot, a Draocorian blade known as a seax. He thrusts the seax forward, into the bulky man's thigh, though he only ends up slashing him.

The large man cries out in pain, whilst the twins are slow to react. The elf, however, is as fast as Hal, drawing her scimitar and dagger before striking Hal. He turns fast enough to stop the strike hitting his neck, but it still cuts into his leather pauldron, leaving a large gash in the material. The twins both step forward, swords at the ready, but neither make a move at the risk of hitting their leader, or their injured companion. Hal uses their apprehension to his advantage, ducking out of the way of one of the elf's strikes before throwing his seax at one of the twins, the blade cutting into the side of his neck, leaving a deep and bloody wound. Hal grins, not expecting to land such a good throw. He realises too late that he lowered his guard, and he is rewarded for such negligence by a massive jolt of pain in his side, as well as being knocked to the ground. He sees the injured, bulky man, his maul in hand.

Hal groans in pain, wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, before quickly pulling himself to his feet. He feels a stinging pain in his ribs as he turns to face the bandits. One of the twins, the one he hit with his seax, is on the floor bleeding, maybe dead, whilst the other three combatants are still on guard, waiting for his move. "Fucking... hate bandits..." He grunts, going to grab his axe with both hands. He stops, realising he dropped the weapon when he was hit by the maul. Fortunately, his spear is still strapped to his back, and he draws it quickly, entering a defensive stance. The bulky man and the remaining twin both step forward, with the elf hanging back. Hal watches like a hawk for any openings or weakness from either of the men, and soon, he seizes his chance, lunging forward and thrusting his spear into the bulky man's stomach, before dropping the polearm and drawing two daggers as he closes in on the other twin.

The man attacks him, but his strike is full of anger at the fate of his brother, and Hal easily sidesteps it, plunging one of his blades into the man's forearm and the other into his chest. The twin stumbles back, and Hal kicks him, just as he's hit by the elf's scimitar, slashing his ribs. He gasps in pain, his hand instictively clutching his injured side. As he moves his hand away, it comes back bloody. He has no respite, however, as the elf stabs at him with her dagger. He drops to the ground to avoid it, grabbing the fallen twin's shortsword from the floor and bringing it up to parry the elf's second strike. She presses the attack, and the injured ranger can only hope to block, parry or dodge, with no chance for a counterattack.

He grits his teeth, drawing a dagger from his belt, before realising it's his last blade. He parries another strike from the elf's scimitar, this time with his dagger, then thrusts at her with his shortsword. It's a good attack, cutting her cheek and causing her to grunt in pain. He takes her momentary hesitation to push forward, lunging at her and knocking her to the ground with his shoulder. She falls, gasping for breath. Hal steps closer, about to cut her throat, but decides he's caused enough bloodshed, and hits her with the flat of his blade to knock her ****. She'll have a headache when she wakes, but she'll be alive. Hal glances around, checking the other bandits are dead, which they are, before retrieving his weapons.

His gear returned, alongside the shortsword he collected from one of the twins, he walks back to Faldor. "Path's safe now" He says with a smile, though it quickly disappears when he sees the look of concern on the barkeep's face.

"Are you alright, lad?"

"What do you mean, Faldor?" He asks, though as he speaks he feels something warm dripping down his side. "I'm... oh." He realises it's blood.

Hal blinks slowly, as the adrenaline wears off. He takes a step forward, back to the wagon, before falling to the floor and slipping into unconciousness.