Phase Five (All According to Plan)

Emmaline darted through the forest, using her remarkable acrobatic skills to easily keep ahead of the Gnoll pack the followed quickly at her heels. She jumped over logs, skipped over rocks and through branches, each time gaining ground as the Gnolls tripped and fumbled their way through the obstacles.

Still, the monstrous men were much taller than she was and had longer strides. Emmaline desperately needed to slow them down, or they would quickly outrun her. Luckily, it wasn't too far from the clearing to Liv's hiding spot in the forest, and Emmaline soon heard the telltale soft pop of silenced rifle fire, followed by the startled yelp of a Gnoll behind her.

Emmaline grinned, but kept running. As she glanced over her shoulder, the ravenous Gnolls barely even noticed their fallen companion, only paying him enough time to shove him out of the way as they continued their chase. Emmaline couldn't help but laugh as she noted their large red cocks bobbing between their legs, fully erect. It must be quite difficult, she realized, to keep moving your legs so quickly with such a large hard object bouncing between them.

As she turned to pay attention to where she was going once more, Emmaline only barely had enough time to notice her near fatal mistake. Her path had taken her to a quickly rushing river she hadn't realized was there. The deep water would slow her down far more than it would the Gnolls, and she had noticed it so late that there was nowhere for her to turn.

Thinking quickly, Emmaline concentrated to elemental energies within her on the palms of her hands and the bottoms of her feet, storing the energy as the ran toward the edge of the river, then jumped.

At the arc of her jump, she released the building fire, sending roaring jets of flame shooting out form each of her limbs, providing just enough **** to launch her across the width of the river. Emmaline landed with an elegant tumble, quickly rolling forward to pop back up onto her feet.

As she turned to look behind her, Emmaline heard another soft pop from somewhere in the distance, and watched as one of the Gnolls trying to ford the rapid waters suddenly keeled over, floating downstream and tinging the waters red. Much to her appreciation, there was only a small handful of Gnolls remaining. It seemed Liv had been making quick work of them.

A short distance away, Liv quickly snapped the next clip into the bottom of her rifle. The ability to reload so quickly was instrumental in taking down this many enemies quickly, and they were so weak that the power loss she suffered was barely a penalty at all.

Before she could take aim once again, however, Liv heard the sound of clanking footsteps coming her way. She quickly slid back into her cover, letting the leaves and branches block her as a half dozen armored Gnolls came walking down the path toward her roost. She held her breath, waiting for them to pass, but as she waited, they only got closer and closer, their noses upturned, apparently latched on to her her scent. As fumes drifted up from her rifle, Liv realized that the smell of gunpowder might easily be what did her in.