OoC: Heh, don’t worry, Ren is a tank, but he’s younger and less experienced than Mathias.

IC: Ren stared at the other man, his perfect vision making this easy to do from the opposite end of the sand pit. The Retuson watched him take a small glass from his pouch, drink something out of it, and then put it back and grab another one from inside.

Oh, great … he used potions. Leita, the best potions maker he ever knew, told him about all that. They could give you different abilities for a certain amount of time, which is what it looked like this guy was up to. Leita said it was also more formally called “alchemy” or somethin’.

How lame. He had to use potions for this? Ren hated it when the opponent had to use cheap tricks. Was this just a big waste of his time?

Of course, then he also wondered … what the second bottle for?

The gate fell shortly after this. So Ren jogged in almost half-heartedly. That was when the Blackharrow guy threw the bottle down. There was a bright flash, turning Ren’s vision white.

Damn it! He closed his eyes out of reflex, and when he was able to open them there was grey smoke all around him. Ren’s blood boiled with annoyance. Stupid cheap tricks … Oh well, the drow soldiers of the empire liked to do the same things, only more back-stabbing like.

As a matter of fact … this felt familiar. There was that one really stupid spell Hyde Kushin used to cast during his old training sessions with the Scarlets. A black orb that would send them into absolute darkness in which Ren had to fight whoever was in there with him.

Oh.

Then he heard him coming, his big stupid feet made a lot of noise. Jeez, if this guy was going to do the no-vision bit, he should learn to be a lot stealthier. Ren couldn’t count the number of scars Dito had given him for being so loud in the orb of darkness routine. So he rolled with ease to the side, back up to his knees, yet still not drawing his weapons.

He wasn’t gonna kill anyone here. Ren didn’t do that kind of thing … anymore.

He rolled just in time to finally see the Blackharrow guy charging, shield up, which would have bashed Ren down if he hadn’t moved out of the way. And then saw the spike that he would have rolled right into if he hadn’t rolled to the right instead of the left.

Heh, close one. Good, it gets the heart warmed up nicely for more action.

Strangely, this guy seemed to move and aim a little too easily for being in smoke … Oh. So that’s what the first bottle was for. It probably gave him an extra type of sight, like the dark elves with their infrared vision. Wow, this guy sure brought back a lot of empire memories.

He’d have to move quickly while this cheap bastard was still in his range of vision. Ren grabbed a spare knife from his belt with his left hand. He would use his right fist for offense, lefty for defense with some metal in case he needed to block the spike. But reminded himself not to hit too hard. So fragile humans and elves are. This was really just play for him. Training. Had to stay in shape, and lately all this travel he’d been doin’ hadn’t been full of chances to practice.

So now that he was close to the guy’s legs, Ren leaned to the side, hands to the sandy ground for support, and swiped at him with a sweeping kick.

__________________
My Garden
[The Figments of My Imagination]
We are all so much together, but we are all dying of loneliness.
[Between the Worlds | Empire of Darkness | A Light in the Dark | Under the Red Sea]