New ways to live

Stopping in the doorway from the kitchen in time to hear Cole try to convince the Not Her to cease its actions she reluctantly decides that yes, this is something she should probably involve herself in. Noting the additional eye that she personally does not possess, Anna throws her knife at it before ducking back behind the door frame. "Really. If you're going to mimic me, at the very least recognize that I am not part porcupine.

Taking one of the spear like spikes to the right shoulder which goes clean through as he forces himself up to his knees and diving onto one end of the table, effectively toppling it over, thus providing him a makeshift barrier. "Cole don't be daft, does anything about that thing remind you any bit of the real Anna! She uses knives and guns not a horrible transforming body!"

He shouts reaching for the needle like spike in his shoulder and pulling it free, and debates trying to bandage some of his injuries, all of which are horrible and leaving trails of blood around him, he makes a mental note to apologize to Slick in thanks for his healing spell, he had little doubt without it he'd still be standing.

Hearing the real Anna's voice. HE shouts, "It's Llyod! Only the supernatural, fire and silver will do any real harm!" Painfully, he reaches for his quiver and strains to pull an arrow free, grunting from the effort, then notching the arrow, he groans, knowing the wound to his shoulder would cost him some accuracy and power. He begins to pull the arrow back, winching in pain as his shoulder screams in protest.

Not Anna
Not bothering to evade the dagger that thunks into his neck he gives her a casual of annoyed glances. "Well at least now I don't have to be looking for my bonus. She/he says with a sadistic grin, letting a small tendril form out the side of her neck, pulling the knife free and throwing it back at her as he attempts to slam the creature from stairs to the Inn's entrance. Before turning to glance at Cole and his flaming hands.

"You don't understand Cole, these others are impostors and the only way to save your friends is killing them all!" He says hoping the young man would buy it at least long enough for him to take care of the the Watcher, mage and now the Inn Keeper.

Hearing the thunk of her knife which has been flung back at her on the other side of the wall Anna sighs at the wasted opportunity to surprise the shapeshifter. She takes the silver knife Slick had passed her way out of its sheath before risking another glance into the tap room.

The chances of sneaking up on Lloyd without becoming impaled are slim to none and Anna has no interest in throwing her only useful knife in this situation. There is however a vague possibility that a rather unique box of bullets may still be tucked behind the bar. Hoping she is remembering correctly the innkeeper darts from the kitchen doorway to behind the bar.

Crouched behind the counter, her hands rummage around the contents of a small cabinet of odds and ends before finding the small and somewhat dusty box. Opening it she spills the meager contents into her hand and easily sorts through the array of specialty ammunition, finding three silver bullets in the bunch. Pulling the rifle from its place she deftly unloads and reloads it with the silver.

Risking another glance from behind the bar, Anna says a little prayer, takes aim, and fires at the same spot her knife had aimed for- right in the back of the head. She doesn't wait to see the results before resuming her cover behind the bar.

Not Anna
The shot hits home, exploding Not Anna's head and throwing her forward as she staggers from the force of the shot, as another mouth opens with her chest, and begins screaming and unholy screech as it lashes randomly about the room before it changes, taking the form of a young man with short brown hair.

Lloyd
Looking pale, stands and glances up at the Creature construct, realizing it hadn't tried leaping on him, and smiles, with blood still bubbling from the back of his head, the bullet having gone clean through. He turns, to look balefully at Anna. "My, the little bitch has some tricks...But I doubt you have more than one shot. Silver after all is a bit expensive these days." He snarls, letting spikes from along his shoulder and his now claw like fingers. "I'll eat your heart and devour your soul!" He howls, turning away from the others and leaping towards the Counter where he saw her duck behind.

At his scream she grins and Lloyds words make her laugh out. Expecting some form of retaliation Anna pockets the bullets and readies her knife knowing there's not enough time to reload the rifle and wary of wasting what ammo she does have.

Not wanting to get penned behind the bar she scoots towards the open end. Hearing him rush closer she swings the knife, hoping to catch him somewhere vital but willing to settle for inducing pain.

Watching with a mixture of confusion and disbelief, "Friend Shard...I am not deaf, I hear you quite clearly." He says. Bringing his hands closer together as he creates a fireball and shoots it through the air to intercept with the transforming nightmare person.

LLoyd
Landing on the counter he begins scanning for her, when he's struck by a fireball, sending him crashing down from the counter, as he screams more and hitting the floor hard as the flames begin to engulf him, but quickly put out by his sporadic rolling back and forth across the floor.

His left arm bleeding profusely he begins painfully shoving himself back up to his feet. Turning his head to glare at Cole. "Oh...the fire charmer...I forgot about you.." With a flex of his undamaged hand he turns his hand into a spiked mace and sends it crashing through the air as it increases 7 times in size Towards Cole.

Then turning his head back towards Anna. "Come out...come out...where ever you are....I was promised I could eat your heart!'

Realizing the creature image is no longer working Hetty stops wasting her energy keeping it up. She only has a moment to breath before the arm/mace is flung out at Cole. The mage constructs a hasty barrier to try and slow it before it reaches him.

Not having a visual on Anna to send a little protection her way, Hetty instead turns her head looking for Shard, knowing he is injured. Seeing the upturned table and blood puddles, she makes an educated guess and erects a third shield around him. As long as Shard or Cole don't pass through the barriers they should block projectiles and slow anything more persistent.

The fire and smoke from the damage Cole's fireball caused makes it easier for Anna to follow Lloyd's movements. Using his momentary distraction to her advantage, she moves within striking distance, using the overhang of the bar as meager cover.

Done with games, she shoves the knife at his stomach, thrusting upwards, utilizing her own momentum as she stands in an effort to destroy a few internal organs.

LLyod
Caught by surprised, tries shoving away from her as his flesh around her knife immediately begins to boil and burn away, he screams flailing backwards, "You bitch!" he spits as his blood sizzles and evaporates before it can reach the floor, and he takes a giant leaping step back. Grabbing a nearby bottle from the bar and swinging it down at her with frightening force.

Anna swears. Though she was expecting some form of retaliation, this was not one she had considered as the bottle shatters upon impacting her left arm which raised in defense. Pain radiates up her arm which she shrugs away.

Keeping her eyes on her target, Anna pulls out another knife which she holds in her slightly numb left hand to aid in deflecting any future attempts from the now very jagged broken bottle Lloyd is still holding. The only reason she knows blood is dripping down her arm is due to the sting from the alcohol she's now covered in seeping into the cuts made by now broken glass.

Preferring being on the offense in a bar fight, Anna advances towards him again. As quickly as she is able, she arcs the silver knife toward his throat while doing what she can to stop Lloyd from causing further injury.

LLoyd
Raising his free hand to shield himself, thus costing him even more agonising pain, almost causing him to keel over as the knife slices through his wrist, severing his hand, while thrusting the now broken bottle into her stomach. "No fair...." He says breathing heavily, "Normal people don't carry silver weapons anymore..." He says, swinging his right leg up and around towards her ribs and changing the composite of his leg into iron.

Attempts to block the giant wrecking ball Mace he finds being hurled at him, with Hetty's barrier preventing him from being impaled by multiple spikes, but the force of the heavy maul still slams into him with an incredible amount force which sends him flying back into the door of the Inn.

Groan, he slowly climbs shakily back to his feet and cracks his knuckles and neck as he stands, wiping a smear of blood from his lips with the back of his fist.
"Alright...I'm warmed up." He says marching back into the inn, preparing another fireball, which he he shoots towards the Back of Llyod.

Trying to block the bottle from disemboweling her, Anna tries to block it with the knife in her left hand, ignoring the sudden shooting pain going up her arm from the action. While it doesn't stop his attack entirely, she at least manages to alter the bottle's path to her side with a hiss.

She sees his leg shift too late, distracted by the growing fireball headed their way, and takes the kick to her ribs. The impact knocks Anna to the ground. Not wanting to be caught in an inferno, she drags herself backwards in an effort to put a little distance between herself and Lloyd as she struggles to catch her breath.

"I'm not exactly normal."

Lyyod

Moving to intercept her and to bring the broken down across her face he's stopped and hurled against the wall as Cole's fireball slams into his back and begins howling in agony, his hand releasing the bottle as his legs buckle and he falls to his knees, grasping onto the wall with one hand, breathing heavily, while his back smolders. He turns then to glare at Anna.

"I'm Envy...One of the seven deadly sins...I will not be denied my prize!" HE growls, as several hundred spikes begin covering his body. Then rising shakily to his feet, he looks sidelong at Hetty.

"I haven't forgotten about you either darling...." And with that he expels the spikes, sending them shooting in all directions from his body.

Seeing the spikes, he begins moves quickly back into Inn and attempts to do a variation of the dragon technique, so he makes his fists burn brighter and hotter and shifts a hand in front of him while expelling a portion of his chi to allow the flames form a barrier between him and the oncoming barrage, with his other hand points in the direction of Hetty, but about a foot in front of her, sending a stream of flames from his hand to form a second barrier between her and the Attack and unable to establish a clean line of sight between him and Anna, he doesn't want to risk accidentally setting her on fire and how doing so may have a negative effect on their friendship. So he prays she finds some way to shield herself.

Hetty's eyes go wide as Envy starts to form more spikes. As Cole's fire shield goes up in front of her she is able to tell that the same barrier is not forming in the area Anna is in. Pretty sure the innkeeper is still wearing a ring which she had personally enchanted with a rather powerful protection spell which has yet to recharge, the mage closes her eyes to eliminate any distractions.

Sensing the rings presence nearby Hetty throws every bit of power she's not using to hold her three current barriers into renewing and triggering the ring's spell. The enchantment is far more intricate then anything she would be able to produce in the moment and more than capable of stopping the spike barrage. Unfortunately it is also short-lived and will only last a minute or so... less when stressed.

Seeing Lloyd recreate his porcupine impression, Anna swears and grabs a tray just within reach on a shelf to use as a rather flimsy shield. Not feeling the impact of any spikes she peers around the tray and realizes her shield ring has finally decided to make itself useful again.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth she thanks her lucky stars and chucks the tray at Lloyd's face before picking the silver knife up from where it lay beside her. Gritting her teeth and ignoring the handful of injuries she's accrued in such a short period of time, Anna lunges to her feet and once again goes for Envy's throat with the silver knife.

Ritke
Appearing from one of the corners, the dark elf pulls the hood from her face and brings an enchanted dagger to Hetty's throat.
"Now, enough of that my fellow magic welder." She hisses, rolling her eyes to Cole, and with her free hand shoots a large jagged ball of ice hurtling through the air towards Cole, quickly swinging her arm back around Hetty's shoulder using it to level her arm as she sends a fireball towards Shard's barrier.



LLoyd
Sweating, and furious, but now aware of the knife, he turns his arms into long tentacles, covered in suction cups, and razor sharp thorns, he feints backwards and lashes one tentacle like arm at Anna's face, and the other he swings down to enare her arm of her knife hand.

She bats at the tentacle going for her face, grabbing it with her left hand (the hand with the finger wearing the silver ring Slick had, oh so generously, provided her with), and digging her nails into the flesh. Anna's left arm waves wildly, gripping the knife and causing whatever harm she can to Lloyd as he hinders her.

Not terribly thrilled with him either, she brings her knee up hard into what normally would be one's groin area.

Hetty stiffens as the cold touch of steel touches her throat. Trying not to panic, but unsure of what to do, she continues focusing on the protection barriers aiding Shard and Cole. Figuring the one around her is fairly useless at the moment the mage lets it fade away so it at least doesn't block her allies from retaliating.

Hearing a new voice, Shad's eyes snap open, and with a surge of addrenline Stands up, and draws his bow in one fluid motion, it takes him half a heartbeat to survey the chaos of the tap room, and sees Anna has things will enough in hand, he fires an arrow across the room aiming for Ritke's right eye just as the fireball slams into Hetty's barrier, with the heat and the force of the following explosion throwing Shard hard enough against the wall of the inn to shake them. Saved from liquiidfying or having all his bones breaking by both the table and Hetty's barrier absorbing most of the blast.

Ritke
The arrow sails across the room, hitting her dead in the eye, causing her to stagger back and shove Hetty away. As she reached up the arrow, screaming, "You son of a bitch!" And rips the arrow from her eye, and cast a swarm of magic missiles at Shard.

Llyod
Hissing, and screaming as he separates his arm from her hand rather than attempt to pull it away, with the tentacle wrapped one her arm dissolves. Then turning his fingers of his remaining hand as the other begins to slowly regenerate, he leaps back and points his fingers at her body and let then extend like claws to pierce her body.

Shroud
Phasing through the wall, having followed the screaming patrons of the Inn, not that he needed to, being as he had been here several times in the past. He takes a moment to survey the situation, spotting Anna fighting off Envy, he makes his choice. He takes another step before stepping on the spent silver round. Causing his eyes soften, quickly bending down, he picks up the round and teleports behind Lyyod. Wrapping one arm around throat, while with the other he shoves the bullet into his mouth and quickly covers Llyod's mouth with his claw like fingers. As the round burns, and LLoyd from the inside, as he whimpers, and tries to scream, his body retaking full human form as he begins withering in Shroud's arms.

Shroud's eyes quickly finds Anna's. "You wish to end him yourself?" He says, in low, raspy voice, carefully pronouncing each word.

Finding her balance quickly after Ritke shoves her, Hetty turns in time to see the dark elf's attack on Shard. Throwing her hand out, the mage sends a wave of energy in the direction of the missiles to blow them off course before hurrying in the direction of Cole and hopefully drawing Ritke's attention from Shard.