Hello there.

Hello! How's it going?

Going well, thanks for asking.
Shall we continue?

Sure thing. I think it was your turn.

Yes, it was. Standby...

Dianne: “Every waking moment of your life, you can consciously decide to change. There’s nothing wrong with your motivation, but at some point, you must have realized that what you’re doing was wrong. And yet, you continued. Armin ran away the first chance he got. Frederick And Wendigo turned on him the moment he had opposition. I’m sure there’s others who fled that I don’t even know about. But not you. You stayed loyal to the bitter end, and that’s all I need to see to condemn you. “

Antonio: “So did you. You killed that girl six months ago, instigated this whole thing. And yet, you live while they die? Look at them, Armin, they’re victims, like you. Good people, too scared to stand up to that tyrant. I for one will not stand by and watch them perish.”

Carol was silent for a few moments, mulling over everything that had just been said. 'Why do you even care what I did?' she said at last, her voice bitter and angry. 'Sargon's dead and gone. I can't serve him anymore. I was planning to leave this country and never come back. If you just let me go, then you'll never have to worry about me again.'

'Not all of them are victims,' Armin said darkly. 'You think that Sargon's whole army was made up of innocent people he blackmailed into serving him, like me? You don't know anything. Plenty of his subordinates were nothing but monsters. Sure, /some/ of them were good people, but only some.'

{Dianne puts the tip of her sword at Carol’s throat.}
Dianne: “For how long? How long before another ‘Sargon’ shows up? I let you go, all is quiet for what, a hundred, maybe a hundred and fifty years, then the next thing I know, here comes another jackass, trying to kill the populace, and who do I see spearheading the attack? The wench I let live all those years ago.

Antonio: “No, Armin, you’re the one who knows nothing. I’ve talked to these people, all they want is to leave this all behind. If you won’t listen, then I’ll defeat you all myself.”

Carol scowled. She seemed to have run out of arguments. 'Fine, kill me then. Just kill me and get it over with. I'd rather die with some dignity than spend my last moments pleading for my life.'

Armin let out a short, harsh bark of laughter that had no real humour in it. 'How can you be sure of that? How do you know that they aren't just going to run off and keep killing people somewhere else?'

{Antonio glances over at Dianne and Carol.}
Antonio: "I guess I just have more faith in people. And if I'm wrong, I'll deal with them myself."

{Dianne looks right at Carol.}
Dianne: "If you insist. Funny thing, had you just run away and not taken off Titan's leg, I might have let you live."
{With that, Dianne's centaurs start to pull, looking to tear Carol's arms off.}

Armin sighed. 'So, this is all about your faith in them. You don't have any proof.' He followed Antonio's gaze, wondering why it was taking Dianne so long to finish off Carol. 'Alright. Let's just say, for a moment, that I believe you and I'll let them go. How are you planning to convince /her?'/ He nodded towards Dianne. 'I think you'll find that harder.'

Carol shrieked in a mixture of pain and fury. 'Why do you even care what happened to Titan?!' she exclaimed. 'He's just a draugr! I didn't even /hurt/ him!'

Titan: "B@tch, you took my leg off! How am I supposed to help Dianne move now?!

{Antonio lifts up the rifle.}
Antonio: "It won't kill her. I promise."

'Of course I took your leg off!' Carol raged. 'You nearly landed on top of me!'

Armin raised his sword and stepped in front of Antonio. 'No,' he said flatly. 'I /might/ be willing to l

let Sargon's minions go, but I'm not going to stand here and let you shoot my allies. After everything they've done for me, I owe them more than that. If you want to shoot anyone, you'll have to get past me.'

(Colors ate half of my post.)

(I gtg. I will respond later. )

(Alright, see you later.)

(Oh, nvm. I’m here for a little longer.)

{The centaurs pull harder on Carol’s arms.}

Titan: “But I didn’t, did I?”

Antonio: “...So be it.”

{Instead of engaging, he runs, right for Dianne.}

Armin started running after Antonio, but didn't try very hard to catch up. Instead, he sent a telepathic message into Dianne's mind. //Antonio's coming for you. I talked with him, and I've agreed to let the surviving minions go free. Can you please consider doing the same so we don't have to fight him off?//

{Dianne heard the call, then looked to the rapidly approaching Antonio}
Antonio: "Dianne, stop! Let them go, they're harmless!"

{Dianne signals the centaurs to stop but not to let go}

Dianne: "She's an officer. If I let her go, she'll just start this sh!t all over again. I'll consider the others, but she dies."

Armin finally caught up to the group, while Carol just looked around at everyone uncertainly.

'I agree,' he said. 'She's way too dangerous to be left alive. Antonio might think he can deal with the others if they start causing trouble again, but I'm pretty sure he can't take on Carol by himself.'

- RR

Antonio: “I can handle her, Armin. She doesn’t need to die.”

Dianne: “I don’t care. Look at what she did to Titan. She’s too dangerous to be left alive.”

Antonio: “Carol. If you were set free, would you want anything to do with Sargon, this city, or this woman (Dianne) ever again?

'No, never,' said Carol immediately. 'I just want to move on from all of this. I'll never even come back to Vallis again.'

'Of course she'd say that,' Armin scoffed. 'She's trying to save her own skin.'

Carol eyed him, frowning a little. 'Well, you all know that you can easily beat me again even if I /do/ cause trouble, so why are you worried?'

Dianne: "Because if I don't kill you here, and you go on to kill more people, then it's on me for not ending you here. Plus, I'll have to hunt you down wherever you are at the time, and frankly, I have better things to do."

Antonio: "No you won't, I'll watch her. I'll keep tabs on them all."

Dianne: "It's bad enough I have to talk to you at all, so please don't lie to my face."

'I don't need anyone to keep tabs on me,' Carol argued. 'I'm not going to do anything.'

Armin ignored her, turning to Antonio. 'She's too dangerous to be allowed to live. I'm not letting a psychopathic witch who was once one of Sargon's most loyal followers go free. I'm willing to leave all of the other minions alive, but Carol has to go.'

Dianne: "I agree. She dies. You two, pull her apart."
{The centaurs start to pull Carol's arms again, eliciting cracking noise.}
Antonio: "Wait. Is there really nothing either of us can do or say to change your minds?

A bit of panic came into Carol's eyes. 'No,' said Armin with a shrug. 'Honestly, you're lucky that we've agreed to leave /any/ of these guys alive, considering what they've done. I'm not taking the risk that she'll run off and keep killing people.'

(So, should I kill Carol? Or should she live?)

{Dianne took a step back, as she knew what was going to happen next}

Antonio: "You're wrong. You're both wrong. I won't allow this."

{Antonio then swings his sword at Armin's leg, trying to disable him with a surprise attack.}

(Yup, you can kill her. I always intended for her to die in the end, after causing a nice bit of chaos. X))

Armin had expected Antonio to try and save Carol somehow, so he was able to parry the blow, though barely. //Little piece of scum. I knew he'd try something.// He then charged recklessly at Antonio with a slashing blow aimed at his neck, as if to decapitate him. He was clearly focused on killing or disabling Antonio as fast as possible, even if he got injured in the process.

{Antonio blocked Armin’s attack, then kicked him in the abdomen to get him away. He then turns and points the rifle at Dianne. However, it was too late. Dianne had thrown her sword at Carol, impaling her through the neck, while the centaurs tore off her arms. With a sigh, Antonio rushes Dianne, now that she is unarmed.}

Armin staggered backwards from the kick, momentarily winded. When he looked up a few seconds later, Antonio was charging towards Dianne. He shifted into hawk form and flew directly at the other vampire, slashing his sharp talons into Antonio's back, trying to distract his attention away from everyone else.

{Antonio whips around and bludgeons Armin with the but of the rifle. Dianne backs off to retrieve her sword while her centaurs engage Antonio. Antonio parried the centaurs and dodged their blows.

Armin dropped off of Antonio's back, fell to the ground and shifted back to human form. He then took a step back to watch Antonio fending off the centaurs, ready to jump in and help them if needed.

While all of this was going on, most of the remaining minions had grouped together in a corner, watching the battle.

{Antonio was mostly dodging and avoiding the centaurs rather than assaulting them head on. Dianne sends two more centaurs at Antonio and turns to Armin.}

Dianne: "Keep him occupied. I'm going to deal with the survivors"

{With that, she heads for the group gathered in the corner.}

//You'd better not be going to kill them,// said Armin warningly, via telepathy. He then turned to confront Antonio, observing the way the vampire evaded the centaurs' blows rather than trying to land a hit on them. Raising his sword into a defensive position, he started to move towards Antonio.

'What's the matter? Having trouble fighting off a few centaurs? You seemed pretty sure that you could defeat us all by yourself.'

The non-humans huddled in the corner reacted with alarm when Dianne approached them. 'She's going to kill us like she killed Carol!' one young werewolf whined.

'Oh, shut up,' growled an older werewolf. 'If we ARE going to die, then we can at least die with dignity, instead of like crying babies.' The young werewolf immediately shut up, though continued to look terrified.

Antonio: "I'm faring better than you would."

{He continues to avoid them, but this time, getting past them, in sight of Dianne.}

{Dianne ignored Armin, instead turning her attention to the survivors.}

Dianne: "Relax, if I wanted you dead, I would have sent Titan. I'm here to ask a question. What do you plan on doing, should you be allowed to leave?"