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((Its cool, they were laying low... Until they caught things on fire and started shooting.))

The fire was first noticed by the fire bishop, who's runes began to instantly pusles in the presence of his element. Fire was easy to locate, and the shade ducked for cover before it began its spell. Then it concentrated, and its hands began to glow. One would notice the fire was not spreading like it should, rather it was being contained.

The other shades began to get to battle stations, with the exception of four melee equip shades that went with Stryphe.

A man with a gun running around just outside the Twighlight Woods had been ehough to catch Stryphe attention and give the demon-man a chance to assess the situation.

"Pawns, down- now!"

Stryphe could only assume that one of the men before him wasn't crouching down to shoot at wild game with that assault rifle he'd been carrying, and so he dove to the left just as the shots went off, firing a blast of green, crackling energy into the ground in front of him and his minions, sending dirt and dust flying everywhere, having found the time to power the move while Shou went into his crouching position. It would be impossible to tell where Stryphe'd landed to make anything but a guess shot. One of the bullets aimed for his stomach grazed his ribcage- leaving a powerfully stinging burn and what would probably develop into another scar. Other than that, the four bullets sailed harmlessly past the space where Stryphe and his pawns had been and straight into the camp, pegging and killing a scrambling pawn, further signaling the presence of an enemy in the direction of the Twilight Woods.

Stryphe nor his shade companions moved a muscle.

Open feild? Gunmen a good distance away with rifles?

No, Stryphe wasn't moving. Once the dust cleared there would be no sign of him or the four pawns scattered around in the grass around him. Unfortunately, Stryphe didn't have much of a sense of where his foes were either.

Well this was no good. Throwing his shoulder in the opposite direction then Shou had gone Quin rotated a foot underneath him and began a sprint. From the corner of his eye he saw a wall of flame and knew he had to take out another mage. Well at least this one was trying to suck him into an itty bitty space.

With the arrows coming in he cleared a distance behind him but felt the heat of the moment and was thrown into the grass. Keeping still wasn't the best idea, but he had almost no idea where any one was, well except that troops were coming in. That was some good knews.

((Post order.
Quin
Shou + NPCs
Stryphe + 4 NPCs
JB with the NPCs))

Enter goonsquad. Fifteen guards previously set to protecting the ruins would enter into the plains area, assumedly on the opposite side of the map from Shouyin and Quin, since you had to cross through the plains to reach the lakeside. Five of these guards would have your basic kind of hunting rifles, and ten would have shotguns. All would be equipped with a pistol and some miscellaneous handheld melée weapon.

These troops sought to flank the Shades while Quin and Shouyin had their attention, the five with rifles hanging back and aiming for the revealed bishop and crossbowmen as the shotgun troops went charging in. (I'm unsure as to the nature of the traps, but is it reasonable for two to be taken out of commission during the charge?)

And back to reality. Things were getting hotter than the half-golem would've liked, and he started moving again. Standing up fully and strafing to the right (opposite direction from Quin), Shouyin would fire the seven remaining bullets in his first clip in the general vicinity of where Stryphe had been when he'd shot at him, spraying around in an attempt to weed them out. He'd remove the empty magazine and pop in the new one, cocking the rifle as an arrow caught him in his right thigh, throwing him down and into a painful right shoulder roll.

OOC: Sorry I took so long, had to eat.

Running Guard Total: 5 Rifles, 8 Shotguns

The crossbow shades began to reaload... That is until a shower of rifle fire broke their concentration. One took a bullet through the chest, while another's eye exploded into goo. The bishop being behind the crossbow was able to dive aside, only getting pegged through the leg. The spell was disrupted and the fires raged free in Shou and Quin's area.

The approaching goonsquad shotguns would find a shade retaliatory force charging at them. The tanks of the shades leading the charge, four rooks in a spread triangle formation ran like football players at the goons. Behind them was a row of the six shade melee forces. Protected from the inital shots by the large rooks. CHARGE!

The preist protectors raised their sheilds and encircled the fallen bishop, the shadow bishops getting in on this cover and readying their volley.

Noel stayed far behind, no need to get involved yet.

((Lenne posted after you, thus now it's her post.))