Mathew’s crew charged into the forest towards the bandits. Micky and all the other soft targets joining him. The bandits recognized what they were doing and fired off some arrows as they retreated but they were half hearted at best. It was clear that they never expected the bows to finish the job or do the convincing in the first place.

The [Monsters] were not helping with this. They were still focused on Micky’s group. Charm would not have an effect because the tanks were the ones with agro. He could put all the aggro on the tanks but that would only make the situation worse as they went into [PVP]. Person verses person combat was always different then a simple monster tank and spank.

His slime was still bouncing around the battlefield, providing support. But Micky himself was useless unless someone got a debuff or their opponents buffed themselves. If Micky’s group even got to them in the first place. With the monsters chasing their heels and one of their own crippled, they couldn’t keep up. They would need to send a group ahead to chase.

Mathew noticed this as well. “Anybody that isn’t [Monster] aggroed charge ahead and lock em down for us to catch up but don’t heavily engage. Just skirmish them until we get there!” He yelled over the din of combat and the rushing wind. Micky gave Simone a nod and they charged in together. His slime wanted to come too but she was to heavily aggroed.

It was vexed at this. It was highly mobile compared to the rest and could easily catch up, but if it did, that would leave the rest of the group vulnerable to aggro. Instead it was best to be used as a distraction to bring the monsters into the engaged group of [PVP]ers.

Micky, Simone and 7 others charged ahead. Only 4 plus his slime were actually aggroed into combat with monsters. Micky held off on casting buffs until they were needed. He would need all the mana he had when the fighting actually started. Instead, he held onto his [Staff] and prepared himself for melee. Already he regretted naming this cat toy with such an epic name. It was stupid to name something grandiosely. Just keep it simple, if it had a grandiose description it was either because things happened or some noob wanted to make a name for himself… Micky was this noob.

The bandits continued to fire, and Micky and Co. continued to chase. Simone quickly outpaced the mage with her more agility based build and class. Micky did his best to burn stamina, it wasn’t like he needed the resource. Heck, it wasn’t like he needed any resources, but now wasn’t the time for fatalism, he had a job to do.

Micky heard the clashing of steal. Simone had caught up with the other group and was now being chased around. The left wing was just watching this happen. This pissed Micky off, again these bastards weren’t properly playing by good groupmanship. So Micky surprised himself when he cast [Enrage] on a bandit targeting Simone and pointed it at the left wing. But that didn’t stop him from doing it again.

Micky would take a bandit and point it at a member of the group. The bandits realized this. As sentients spells like this did not always have the intended effect. However, It did give them focus and pull aggro off of Simone. After all, if they could only see someone else in a blind rage how could they attack her. He did not however, target the squishies, Micky would still abide by good groupmanship.

The bandits split off to the surprise of the left wing. They thought they could still spend a little time to catch their breath while they watched a good show. But it ended as quickly as it began, actually it seemed that they were much more focused on attacking these bastards than they were Simone a moment ago.

Of course the bandits weren’t stupid. They had tried to get Simone out of combat from the get go. Tigers and rabbits and something or other, and all that. But she was also not stupid enough to engage and get locked down. Both groups knew that a battle was coming sooner rather than later. If the bandits got locked down it would be sooner. If they could keep staling it would be later and the [Monster]s and the ‘Merchants’ would tire themselves out and they could swoop in easier. If not it would become a grand melee and they would suffer greater loses.

Fortunately for some and unfortunate for others Simone actually did her job. And Micky forced the still Uncooperative Lefty’s to do theirs. But the righty’s were always strong in their strokes and made up for the weak and slow left. The right was skilled and knew what to do, how to follow the flow and come out in time.

Micky shook his head. He felt like he went to a strange place for a second. He was busy with his newly improvised spell. He was currently working on charming the bandits into being unable to attack the non-melee classes. By reversing the mod that he made on the [Enrage] spells he could add it onto the [Charm]. Or at least he should if he doesn’t have to dodge the occasional strike.

Simone was busy with her two bandits. The group was outnumbered but at least not outgunned. The bandits were a hodgepodge and didn’t have a cohesive group even though it was clear that they had been working together for years. They would strike and counter each others initiative in order to kill steal and get claims to loot. But they also worked together to make sure that none of their own were taken down.

But it still wasn’t enough to involve all the bandits at once. Right now half of their group was waiting for the rest of Micky’s to arrive. They knew this was a battle of attrition. They had fought it before and will fight it the next time. It was rare for a group to surrender in a quick motion.

Micky was busy with his own bandit. While he was currently so pissed off at Jerome that his eyes were literally bleeding, he still had the wherewithal to know to take Micky out of the fight or he could never truly get into combat. This was the problem with sentients. They were always unpredictable even when under the effects of spells that should make it impossible. He probably didn’t even need to [Error] to do it. He just needed to aline his goals properly so that Micky was the best way [To His Opponent]. Then he would have to travel [Through] Micky to get to the other side.

It was also making it hard to concentrate on modding his new spell so this exact situation wouldn’t happen. Luckily they had gained enough time for the reinforcements to arrive. They came charging in just dodging and weaving any of the monsters and not bothering to retaliate. Mathew charged right in and slammed into the bandit that was assaulting Micky. He decided the reevaluate his priorities. Now Mathew was the wall standing in front of Micky who was the wall standing in front of his true target, that made him so mad he pissed himself in frustration.

Micky was finally able to then cast the improvised charm which bound him and the man. He could no longer target Micky. Not that it mattered as much as it seemed because Mathew wasn’t going to let that happened either. While he was at it Micky cast his new charm on a few more of the bandits who had the experience with such effects to target individuals they otherwise would have ignored.

Of course with the arrival of Mathew came the arrival of the [Monster]s which added a whole new set of problems to the mix. The bandits on the small hill decided to join the fight now to protect their other member from the [Monster]s while they targeted the other group. This made things a three way battle which Micky’s group was clearly losing. Of course so were the [Monster]s but these creatures were so hopped up on mana and aether that they never cared until they received massive losses or massive gains.

Micky tried to deflect the monsters where he could but it was a losing battle. There was no way for him to single target enough monsters and bandits to win this fight. They were going to lose.

And then the cavalry came. The stomping of hooves, or at least it sounded like a cavalry charge. It was not, it was his slime and like any good royal, she brought an entourage. Well it was more an angry stampede of [Monster]s. This made everyone pale, including the original group of monsters. They of course, now, wanted to run, but it was already too late.

The charging stampede hit the east flank of the melee and caused the groups there to scatter. They were basically out of commission but they couldn’t be out of the fight unless they wanted to die. That was true for man and monster alike.

“Give me time! I need to do something!” Micky screamed. Luckily the wall that was the eastern flank was enough to stop the stampede of fresh monsters but they still joined the battle. The eastern side of the battlefield looked like an alliance of three forces, Micky’s crew, the bandits, and the first wave of [Monster]s, versus the new wave. And they were losing slightly.

“Are you sure?” yelled back Mathew.

“No! But we will lose.” Came Micky’s reply.

“Michael protect Micky!” Screamed Mathew. He was currently the main target of the battlefield. However before this it was just a staling action. Now Micky was the main target of the battlefield. At least for the bandits.

“What? No! I have my own battle and I can’t help that [Dead] weight now!” He yelled back.

“You get your ass over here now or I kill you now! Your choice, when a teammate says their doing something, you help them, end of story!” Mathew yelled again.

Michael seemed pissed but he still joined up with Mathew. Now the two of them were defending a large group of bandits and [Monster]s in a fixed position around Micky. Micky meanwhile, sat down in the middle of the battlefield. This wasn’t the best place to meditate but if he was going to perform this spell he was going to need to concentrate. He trusted his teammates. Not really because he trusted them, but because he didn’t have a choice.

Michael was pissed but he knew he had a job to do. So he protected Micky from the attacks that would hurt him. This didn’t mean he didn’t let some through. He saw it as the perfect opportunity for revenge. If he wasn’t going to live to see it, he might as well see it in the end and then die satisfied. Unfortunately Micky’s pet slime ruined that. Then Michael had to concentrate because more [Monsters] showed up. They came charging in after the damn slime, why couldn’t it let him have his fun?

Of course the arrival of these [Monster]s actually alleviated some of the burden but it upped the concentration he needed to keep on the fight. If he messed up he would end up wounded, or miss a chance to counter. Not that he expected to actually take out a bandit. Say what the adults will about human form monsters he couldn’t just smash them like he did a rabid monster, and he was suffering for it. This was more like a spar, and he never beat the adults in a spar. All he could do was hold on until an adult could take care of the problem.

Micky concentrated on his two new improvised spells. He was currently casting around the party interface for [FoF] capability. If he was going to do this he needed to do it right, or things could go from worse to terrible.