Charge In!

Looking back and forth between her friends, Inga had a moment of indecision before twirling her staff and shouting "Charge!"

Venus gave a whoop of joy as she spun on the balls of her feet and ran alongside the mage. Grisly on the other hand gave a grunt of annoyance as he tried to keep up on his stubby legs. With the Golems gone, the only threats were the Mud Dolls. The men of the village had gathered some makeshift weapons such as axes for chopping wood or pitchforks. Even though the villagers outnumbered the dolls, they were clearly outclassed. The dolls took a lot of punishment, but after a few moments their clay bodies simply regenerated and they kept fighting. The villagers didn't have the same abilities and so their wounds just kept building steadily.

Venus was the first to join the fight, her sword taking the head off of one doll and quickly following up by taking the arms off another as she saved a villager from being choked to ****. The doll that lost its head hardened and turned to dust while the second simply began regenerating its arms. Venus cut her way through to the largest group of fighters and shouted for them to sever the heads. With the Huntress among their numbers, the villagers began to rally and change the fight.

Inga moved in next, twirling her staff to give herself some room before slamming one end into the ground. Stone columns rose up around the nearest dolls and slammed in, crushing four into dust. Another doll made it past her columns and made to grab her, but an axe spun through the air and destroyed its head. Grisly finally joined the fight, cutting a doll in half with his remaining axe before finishing its head once it had fallen to a more manageable level.

Between the three Hunters, the battle turned quickly and the few remaining dolls fled into the forest after the golems. A cheer rose from the villagers, many hefting their weapons into the air. One large, muscular man with a massive sword on his back and no shirt made his way over to Venus. He was in his thirties or forties, his long black hair tied into a ponytail and his bear scraggly. His chest had many scars, but nothing from this fight.

"Hunters at last. Thanks for the assistance friends. I'm Vergil, the chief of this village." He reached for Venus's hand to shake it, but Inga stepped forward and took it instead.

"I'm Inga, the leader of this hunt. My companions are Venus and Grisly."

Vergil eyed Inga for a moment, taking in her robes and staff and clearly unimpressed. He turned his attention back to Venus and gave her a sly smile as he pointedly ignored the mage.

"Nice timing I would say Huntress. If you are here for the blasted mage, he's in his tower a few miles north of here. He has quite a number of golems and dolls there so you had best go prepared."

"We plan to, but we need to rest for the night and plan for our attack tomorrow," Grisly butted in, not liking how this "Vergil" was giving all his attention to Venus. The large man nodded, looking Venus up and down, causing the young woman to blush.

"Alright you can stay at my place for the evening."

The aged wizard Rekkan broke his connection to the mud doll he had been most focused on. Through its eyes, he had witnessed the battle turn against him. The dwarf was of no matter, but the two women... The mage might be able to give him the power boost he needed and the other could be molded to serve his needs.