KA-POW!

You and Cameron leap onto the simulated monster to deliver shield bashes and save your cornered friend, but to be honest, it kind of hurts your wrist and you don't feel like your hits are doing quite as much as Cameron's. When one of Cameron's strikes connect hard enough to knock the monster onto the ground, you back up a bit to nurse your wrist and watch Cameron and Jace pile over the monster to smash it in repeated and excessive up-and-down smashes.

This whole thing really hasn't gone overly well. Spending a bit more time in the Gym might be in your best interests, all cards on the table.

Since Jace doesn't have a shield or anything, he's joined in by whacking it with one of his loose crossbow bolts. It really doesn't look like it's actually doing much, so you wait for a good moment in the simulated monster slamfest to walk over and put a hand on his shoulder. He stops mid-swing to look over at you, and the flimsy bolt wiggles in the air. You shake your head.

The two of you take a step back to stand and watch Cameron just absolutely pummel the monster with both of his shields, feeling a bit of a connection in the somewhat-embarrassing somewhat-heroic displays of this practice battle. The monster has also probably been dead for seconds, just as a fact.

"Thanks." You say. Jace and you are standing beside each other, just sort of watching Cameron have a real crack at it.

"You too." He says, not looking away. Eventually Cameron considers the job to be done, and straightens up from his hunched position to look back at both of you, breathing heavily as he stands over the monster's body.

"Is, uh- hey, is Delilah-"

KKRA-CKOOOM!

A very loud explosion rocks the battlefield, and a flash of orange light comes through the hut's glassless windows. The three of you rush to look out of them as the rumbling starts to settle, and see Delilah landing gracefully on the section of land on the other side of the stream. The bridge is absolutely totalled, and where it once was there's now a massive cloud of dark smoke and raining fragments of blackened bridge wood.

As the fragments rain down onto the land and into the stream, Delilah looks around until she spots the two charred bodies of the monsters that had been on her, at which point she relaxes her posture. The simulated monsters' bodies are lying in the stream, the cool water rushing over top of them and carrying flakes of ash and chunks of wood.

"That's how to do it." Jace says to himself, smiling as he looks out at the scene.

You and Cameron are a bit too surprised to make a comment, so instead you just watch the smoke cloud slowly dissipate as Delilah tucks her twin sickles back under a strap in her leather armour. You can only pray that no bread needed to be delivered to the town from the other side of that bridge. If true, you'd need to start thinking about who the real monsters were.

"Alright, everybody, come in! It's evaluation time." Professor Phoebe calls out, hopping down from the hut's thatched roof and landing just in front of the window you were all staring out of. Ah! Scared you.

Without another word between each other, the three of you all move out of the hut's open door to join Professor Phoebe as she double-checks over some of her written down notes. When Delilah arrives her leather boots are a bit wet from crossing the stream, but she seems mostly unharmed and very proud of herself.