BlueCalibri

When queried by Rhian about why he decided to heal Flynn, he just turns and smiles back at her fairly impassively before responding. He still seems a little amused, slightly more willing to show it now that the one on the receiving end is no longer quite as present. Since he doesn't want to anger Rhian even more, he also tries bringing back that usual effect he has around himself... "I felt it would be improper, as a healer, to let someone leave with injured body. However, I believe you've hit him plenty hard enough to injure his pride. A bruise on the ego is as much a lesson as a bruise on the body - perhaps he will learn from it, or perhaps he will not. Either way, it will be interesting to see if this changes anything." Another pause. Verden seems curious with his following inquiry, tilting his head just a little. And there's that other smile of his again - the one he had when he initially saw the fight breaking out. "As for yourself, how are you feeling? I believe that one-sided clash has more than proven your ability to fight, but I do want to know if it helped your mood."

Verden seems to have a small smile on his face after he sees that Rhian has ultimately triumphed, and quite handily too, but he forces that smile off his face as quickly as he can. After all, it would not do to appear to be taking delight in someone else's suffering. His eyes move to turn on Flynn, taking a moment to look him over and see how bad his injuries are. Ultimately, doing so wouldn't be necessary since his mind was already made up, but instinct called to tell him to evaluate when he should heal or when he should wait. After a moment, he steps forth to the injured fellow, concentrating a bit of healing through his staff to help the poor lads injuries. "Apologies about the mess made of things. I hope you aren't too bothered by the events that transpired here." He offers Flynn a faint smile, hopefully one that comes across as reassuring. If there's anything spoken to him on Flynn's part, he'll wait around - otherwise, Verden is quite fine with turning his attention to finding where he should go next.

Verden's expression remains unchanging as he watches the fight inevitably break out, although if one listens closely they'd hear the faint sigh of an exasperated healer coming from him. Still, since he feels it would be best to have a healer on hand, he decides to stick around and watch the fight. He seems to be smiling ever so faintly, given he's quite sure Rhian's got the advantage here... He decides that now is, for once, not the time to apply his usual aura of charisma into influencing the battle. It seems unfair enough to him already. Instead, he just comments on what he's seeing, letting out a quick "I see now" before silencing himself once more.

Somewhere, Verden's thoughts poke at him. He closes his eyes, deciding to try a prayer to figure out what he might be needing to do. Once he opens his eyes again, he's fairly sure he knows where to go in spite of not having much clue how to navigate this village, and so he soon wanders all the way to the training ground. Once there, he takes a look at the scene - namely, the exchange between Rhian and Flynn, as well as the other spectators Michi and Kerr. He continues watching for a moment, then turns his attention back to the main focus of the scene, this being Rhian and Flynn. At least now that a healer is here, if anything like a fight breaks out, it should be somewhat safer... "Pardon me, would anyone care to explain what I have missed? I only arrived here recently."

Verden has remained silent throughout the whole moral discussion. He seems to want to avoid commenting on the situation, in case one of his comments earns the ire of one or more of the fellows he'll be working with... Unfortunately, by holding his silence, he realizes that he may be dooming some unfortunate people to an unfortunate fate. His eyes drift to the people who've been lined up for execution - the cleric, mage, and knight. Probably also the girl. There's a pause, his gaze locking firmly onto the four of them. He speaks the first few words that he's said in quite some time. "For what it's worth, if anything, I'm sorry circumstances lead to this outcome. May the next life you live be kinder to you." He then closes his eyes in prayer for the wellbeing of the souls of those doomed to die. Those particularly near him might feel the feeling of that usual aura he seems to have around him in battle, although now it sees little combat potential. Now, it's more an attempt to calm, to soothe those with worried minds and ease the potential suffering of those who may need comfort. Verden isn't entirely sure if his prayer will work as intended, although he's more than hopeful that it does.

Verden moves to G11 and heals Kerr.

Verden moves to J12 and heals Fallon, as mentioned in the plan thing.

What was the plan... Oh, right. Verden moves to O12 and heals Argos.

Finally time to take action. Verden moves, relocating to O14 and casting a Heal onto Argos to help the lad back on his feet.

The plan was that if both soldiers 1 and 4 were down, Verden would revive Argos. The thing is, soldier 1 is not down yet. Verden holds off for now, as much as the look in his eyes suggests he really doesn't like having to wait to bring someone back to action.

This is perhaps a tad late, but. Verden moves to P13 and heals Argos. Insert flavor text here about Verden looking around and seeing wounded people and reacting and all that. I'm lazy.

Verden hums quietly to himself as he wanders his way over to T13. It's been a while since he's had anything much to say, despite the drifting of his eyes as he switches his gaze from one person to the next. Still, as long as he's still around, alive, and willing to do his one job, it's probably not too much of a concern what happens involving him.

Verden, meanwhile, seems happy enough to be sitting off a little distance from... everyone, actually. Both those who does not know, and those he does. Despite that, he does glance back over at the group occasionally, as though not sure of himself enough to bother getting up and shifting to sit with someone else. Currently, he's holding some random potato in one bare hand, having apparently either not noticed or realized that plates are indeed a thing. The staff he usually carries rests by his side, as does what is clearly a sheet of rusty metal with some fabric wrapped around and through it, perhaps even the same metal sheet it might have been possible to see him wearing earlier, under those robes. And, as a fun wee side note, he seems to have attracted the attention of a bit of local wildlife - there's some birds hopping around near his feet, completely free of worry or trouble for the time being.

Verden promote to Priest, because of course he will. +5% growth to... DEF. He's lacking in that and could use more. Proficiency in all staffs at rank D, Healing type specifically to rank C. Personal Skill 2 ("Alright, just let me focus...") available now. I think.

Verden seems to be watching the others going through the motions for now, feeling safe to move thanks to the ranged threats having been taken out, and so he moves himself around to stand over on the hill at R16. Once there, he's finally got enough height to see what's going on elsewhere... "Hmm, I see... So these are the last few people left. Good. I suppose we won't have to spend much more time on this." There's a pause. He turns to face Rhian, having picked up on her having been knocked into the grass earlier. "I did suspect that would happen... It would be a shame for the battle to finish with you sitting down there like that. A shame much unbefitting of someone like yourself, given those earlier shots you made, surely? So... Up you get." He casts a Heal onto Rhian to help get her back into the condition to stand, moving in close enough to offer her a hand up in case she needs it, as well as a somewhat less helpful good-natured smile. It's pretty clear that the running around has exhausted him somewhat, not that it'll have any major consequence thanks to being in the closing stages of the practice skirmish.

Now, with all the madness of combat out of the way, Verden feels like he can safely leave the forest area. He does so, moving to Q15 and stopping to catch his breath, pretty obviously exhausted from moving that far. Once he's had a moment, he turns and drops a heal onto Argos just to make sure he wouldn't be going down, just giggling a little. "Don't worry too much if you make a mistake. Everyone makes them. What matters is that one learns something from them." ...Then, he turns his attention to Rhian's recent shot. There's a pause. "...Well, uh. Good shot. I can't quite see who you took down from back here, who did you hit? All I can see is that... he went down to a single arrow."

Verden's still watching everything. Absolutely everything. So when he sees Dulcibella get taken down by a hatchet, he visibly flinches, just eyeing up the distance that hatchet traveled through the air. Unfortunately, he realizes he can't exactly go down and help her back up without risking getting smacked with a hatchet himself, and he's definitely not the guy who should be taking those. He's also still quite worried about Rhian going around in as bad a condition as she is, but again, can't go out to help her out without risking getting hatcheted. So, he does the next best thing... Verden stays put, turning to see who he can reach with a heal right now. Argos is definitely the one more in need, so Verden baps a heal his way. "You're healed up. Uh... get in there, maybe? And by there, I mean... well. You know." He smiles a little, then turns to check southwards just in time to see Rhian oneshot Soldier 5. There's a pause as he just takes in what he saw... Verden briefly moves to rest his staff on one foot, then begins clapping quietly, albeit loud enough to make it clear he's doing so. He seems to be smiling a little more than usual. "Um... Impressive shot. Heh..."

Verden watches the clash between cavaliers and comrades, humming quietly to himself and just eyeing up what might need to be taken care of. At least, in terms of what he actually could take care of at all... He then promptly begins stressing out as he sees Argos get taken down. Still, he can do something to fix that... He moves to enter the forest at O13, taking refuge among the trees, peeking out for a moment so he can quickly boop Argos with a heal and get the fellow back on his feet. "There you go... Um, try not to get knocked down again too soon, okay?" ...Verden also can't help but feel like he might get targeted if he ends up too close to the enemy forces. He begins glancing around, clearly watching to see if any of them decide he'd be a good target...

Verden opens his eyes again, humming quietly while on the move, heading to N13 and taking a quick look over everyone around him. He can't help but smile a little more at seeing Ceridwen and Johanna getting along but doesn't decide to comment on it. He keeps searching for a moment... Then, noting that Seymore has been fairly badly injured so far and would probably appreciate being healed a lot more than Rhian would, Verden decides that the best course of action now would be to heal Seymore. While doing that, he speaks up just loud enough that the others should be able to hear him. "If any among you particularly want a heal from me, do please say so. I can't always tell who does or does not both need and want any help from me..."

Verden watches as things go really unfortunately for Sharon, then watches the rest of the team start talking with one another. He seems to be thinking, especially after noting that some of them seem to know her. And also that she's pretty young for someone on a battlefield. He glances around for a moment, thinking to himself... Yes, perhaps something can be done soon, he reckons. At first, he just moves into position, going a bit to the east to stand at O11 and mending the relatively light injuries Kerr has taken so far. His eyes dart side to side again, glancing back at Sharon's fallen form, and there's something of a guilty look to his eyes as he observes her sustained injuries. Especially what the blast of light did to her. "Hmm... Seems like some of the people here knew that girl... I feel a little bad for her, seeing what happened." Once he's done, he resumes prayer again, whispering something faintly to himself. (OOC only - the following has no bearing on combat.) "If she awakens and we have to fight her again, please forgive me." This time, something is just a little different. He seems to have more purpose to his prayer, and if it were actually possible to see his eyes, one would probably pick up a faint spark of determination from them (his eyes are closed right now, though). Yes, something is quite different now. If one were to check on how Sharon's doing, they might notice a faint trace of healing magic, and possibly also the gradual mending of whatever surface injuries she has sustained so far. Just a little something to help ease aches and pains, not really something that would be feasible for an actual battle. To be blunt, he knows full well that he doesn't have the power to do anything truly meaningful from that far away yet anyway, so he really hopes nobody notices his little act and ups their expectations of his capabilities...

There's a quiet sigh from Verden. He nods to acknowledge Seymore's thanks, then he glances at Rhian one more time. "I'm a healer by nature. Worrying about others is part of what I do." He then bows his head a little, before wandering over to N11. Almost as an afterthought, he decides to heal Ceridwen, since he might as well do that while he's there, and that's his action done with. His eyes drift around, keeping a close watch over those injured in the battle so far, as well as positions in general... He can't help but wonder what they're each planning to do themselves.

There's a pause from Verden. Briefly, getting eye contact with him would prove impossible, his eyes just drifting away to gaze anywhere other than anyone else. Still, after he's had a moment to think, he just sighs and turns his focus back to Rhian once more, albeit still keeping eye out just in case there's something important to keep track of. While doing so, he replies, his voice quietening a little beyond what it already is. "...I honestly don't know. On one hand, trying one's best is almost always a good thing. But on the other hand, if it means you're hurting yourself in the process... well..." He trails off for a moment. Evidently not used to the current topic. Still, he tries his best to continue, shifting on both feet where he is and looking rather uncomfortable in his skin right about now. "I can't really dissuade you from fighting that hard since it's up to you, but... I don't know. Would be nice. Could probably heal you if the strain got too bad. I'm just concerned as usual, I suppose..."

In the moments of silence after the current "wave" of foes had been dealt with, Verden could be heard, breathing a little heavier than he was at the start of the battle. He seems to be taking a moment... After a while, he clenches one hand a little tighter around his staff, then unclenches. "I'm finding this battle oddly invigorating, now I've gotten into the flow of it..." Another pause. He mumbles something quietly to himself, then turns his attention to other matters. Namely, he should probably be doing his main job of actually healing people. Let's see, who's the most badly injured right at the moment... From the look of things, he can see that Kerr's been somewhat scratched up, Seymore and Fallon are both in very poor condition, and Dulcibella and Rhian might need tending to soon but could probably hold for a bit longer. In the meantime, he just looks around for a moment... then, he makes a decision, heading down to M9 (I'm assuming it's open now) and helping out Seymore with a quick heal. "There. I might as well take this quiet time as a chance to catch up on healing." ...And, come to think of it, he also decides to continue the earlier conversation line started earlier, maybe. He casts a glance back over to Rhian again, concern still evident in his expression. "Fighting hard, I can respect. But fighting so hard you're injuring yourself from doing so?"

Verden's usual serene nature breaks for the first time so far as he sees Ceridwen fall. He seems primarily alarmed, secondarily concerned. Although he is still someone who can heal people, so at least he can actually do something instead of stand around panicking. That, and since this is a practice battle, he doesn't have quite as much to worry about as he would if the situation were more... real, for lack of a better term. "No, no... You're not going down yet. Not while I'm here." Remaining where he is for now, he concentrates in silence for a brief second or two, then casts a heal onto Ceridwen in the hope that whatever he can muster will help her back up. Having already had someone been taken down this early on, and knowing that there are still others with mounting injuries, he seems to be gazing around at the other combatants more frequently... Then, his gaze flicks onto Rhian, and there's a brief look of confusion, then concern. "Wait... I cannot recall ever seeing you having been hit by anyone. Where are your injuries coming from...?"

Verden smiles a little, watching everyone else around him do their respective work and silently appreciating their efforts, then he turns his gaze to check individually on each person in turn. Kerr, Ceri, Rhian, Johanna... They're all injured. But only one of them is the most injured, and once he's certain which needs attention first, he... would move, if it weren't for the fact that he can't really stand close enough to get that healing out as needed. There's a definite limit to how far he can move, and he just can't move far enough to get to where he'd need to be. Guess that interferes with his first idea. "Hm..." He holds fast where he is. Since he can't move to get a particularly useful heal out yet, he decides to pass the time with a bit of silent prayer. Something about him standing there gives off a faint aura of safety... Nothing particularly powerful, but it's better than having nothing.