"You better stay still, or else one of you will see a rock head your way!" Gordon said, twiddling his wand in the faces of the villagers. One stepped in front of the wand; it was the husband Dante had spoken to before. He stood before the wand to protect the defenseless behind him, raising his arms wide. He was a burly man with a stout figure, eyes as serious as ever, focused on the man and his wand.
"Oh? It seems we have a brave one here! Very noble of you to put yourself in harm's way for such a matter, though I don't really see the point." he said, letting out a laugh of disbelief. The man's position held firm, focusing entirely on him and his wand.
"These people have done you no wrong. Why throw out such threats to innocent people?" Gordon looked at him, confused. He scoffed and answered.
"What else? Nothing talks like some good payment, and this place has something that we want. Once the girl is found, we leave the place and take out anyone that gets in our way."
"What girl do you even speak of? We have no one of that sort of importance."
"You must really think I'm an idiot? There's no way we'd pass the chance to get our hands on "noble" goods. We were told to grab her and be on our way."
"Sounds more like kidnapping to me, no matter who it is," he said, snapping at his remark. Gordon didn't take kindly to his gesture and gave him a frown.
"I wish you wouldn't say such things, mind your tongue."
Suddenly, a burst of magic shot from his wand, and a cylinder-like pebble shot at the man's leg. It left a wound in his leg as he kneeled on the ground from the pain; many panicked yells grew as they watched one of the civilians protecting them get attacked for simply standing his ground, raising a sense of fear within the people. Gordon had a satisfied smile from the reaction, but another yell came about.
"Gordon! What the hell do ya think you're doing!?" Henry yelled as he continued his fight with Rita, trying to keep her attention. Gordon sneered as he saw the man's reaction.
"Look, Henry, sometimes you have to do things this way so that there's no mistranslation of intent."
"Even still, this isn't a part of the deal! Back me up, Truman!"
"He already hurt one of the civilians. Might as well continue until we find the girl, no?" he said as his wand glowed a bright green before vines rose from the ground and began to cage and trap the other civilians with his magic. They huddled together to stay safe from the sharp thorns sticking out from each vine. Children yelled as many adults protected them from the thorns sticking out of the vines.
"Stop hurting innocents! Your beef is with me, not them!" Rita yelled, glancing over before another barrage of beams flew in. She fended off each blast once more, but the other adventurer turned to join in the attacks. Each explosion of fire and sharp projectiles pushed Rita back, pushing her closer to the Tavern. She began to swing more ferociously to protect the Tavern from damage. She knew that defending the people came first, but with all their attention on her, they'd directly attack her and the place that seemed the most important to her.
"You're protecting such a shabby tavern; why waste the effort on such a trivial thing?" one of the men asked as he shot more projectiles in her direction. Each differed in size; while the smaller ones had to be parried, the bigger ones had to be dealt with. This was causing Rita to slowly begin to slow down as the barrage wouldn't stop. Her breaths got heavier as each swing connected to the onslaught of magic attacks. The pressure of the situation had reached heights she and no one else thought would come to be on such a day. She knew moving in and attacking the mages head-on would be the ideal way of taking them out. Still, due to her limited magic capabilities, she couldn't close the distance without exerting even more energy than she already had.
"I don't care what you three want anymore; you've gone on and hurt my people. I can't forgive you!" she yelled intensely as she swung her sword. Slicing in each direction, attacks came from many angles, trying to find a blind spot. She noticed the man shooting the projectiles rather than firing spells had better control of his aim than the leader, causing her to worry about his shots hitting her precisely. This distracting thought was in mind as she defended, trying to salvage what felt like an unfair disadvantage.
The group hiding in the bushes watched silently as everything happened. Sniffles and grunts were heard from the bush. Baxter's face welled up and turned red with frustration. Seeing the men make fun of his home, friends, and father, his teeth clenched tightly as he slowly began to move.
'W-wait! Don't go!"
"It's too dangerous!"
Mya and Dillon begged as they tried to grab ahold of him, but his strength differed. Moving past them and rushing out, Baxter ran past the two men and went to attack the man known as Gordon. He clenched his fist and swung at the man as hard as he could, missing him before trying again.
"Baxter!" Rita yelled as she continued to fend off the blasts in her direction, now worried about one of the kids getting caught in the crossfire. Gordon laughed as he dodged the attacks of Baxter, swaying from one side to another as each of the feeble punches never seemed to land its mark. Baxter's eyes teared up with each swing, wanting to hurt the man who did the same to the other villagers.
"You hurt him! You hurt my father; I'll never forgive you!" he screamed as his wild and erratic punches continued to flail, yet to no avail. Gordon sneered before stepping out of the way and kicking his leg out, pushing Baxter back some feet. The kick's impact caused him to clench his stomach and throw up on the scene, crying out in pain before being turned to his side by Gordon's boot. His wicked smile shined as he began to jeer at Baxter's efforts.
"Look at the "little hero." Children should keep their mouths shut in the presence of an adult."
His eyes were filled with disdain for the kid who lay helplessly on the ground. Coughing up his own spit, trying to get up once more as the man from the group yelled out.
"Don't you lay another finger on my boy! You hear me!?" The man yelled once more as he began to trudge towards Gordon, who wasn't paying him any mind. His grin sharpened as he lifted his wand in an upward motion. An orange light grew from the wand's tip, signifying that he was about to cast another spell. The man's trudges turned into a sprint as he reached Baxter and grabbed him, protecting him from what could be heading their way.
Rocks appeared to form in the air, slowly transforming into a spiral shape. They formed as they sat before Gordon and began to rotate aggressively. He slowly began pointing his wand toward the man and boy sitting on the ground. The man turned his back and held his son close to protect him as many screams sounded off from the crowd.