Elder Blood Witcher 540 Nekker Gonna Give You Up

Looking down into it he sees a shallow layer of water with a slightly raised stone that stays above its surface... Resting on it is a pile of fire and three pairs of eyes staring up at him.

Geralt "Hmm, Kids. Better deal with them." he mutters, lighting a grapeshot and tossing it into the nest and looking away as the young Fiends are turned to red mist.

Ciri "That was.. Cruel Geralt." he mutters, despite knowing full well that was needed.

Geralt shrugs, "If you really want to be a Witcher then this is part of the job." he says to her, not wishing for her to follow his path in life.

Ciri shakes her head and looks towards the other side of the valley, "The Warband must've continued that way, though they might even be coming back in our direction now."

Geralt shakes his head, "With the commotion, the Fiend and Chorts made the Nekkers would wait before coming back."

Risryn "Let us continue then."

Geralt "Not so fast, we need to dismantle these corpses and burn them afterwards. Don't want Necrophages invading after we removed these." he states, those nearby reluctantly nodding.

After dissecting and harvesting the corpses for anything useful the group burn them and continue following the Warband

A couple hours later the group spot the hunting party in a clearing from the treeline they're hidden in. The Warband appears to be hiding behind a raised rocky incline to protect against something, Geralt and a few others can see arrows coming from the opposite forest, obviously trying to fend off the over sixty hungry Nekkers.

Zoltan "Bandits?" he wonders but Geralt shakes his head.

Geralt "Hmm, can't be. Their arrows are too accurate, their position too strategic to be bandits."

Rhea "It matters not who they are, only that they are on Hallowed ground." he states from behind, drawing a few raised eyebrows.

Zoltan "You're giving me shivers, reminding me of that s.h.i.te the Eternal Fire spouts." he says with a frown.

Rhea "Those who worship fake G.o.ds will receive fake enlightenment." she states absolutely.

Ciri "Don't you worship Reima? What words of wisdom will that battle junky give you?" she asks sarcastically.

Rhea "That treachery means death, and the G.o.ds themselves decide what is treacherous!"

...

Ciri "Did Reima say that or are you making it up?"

Rhea looks glances away, "I may be interpreting something he said in the past..."

...

Quelaag "We have a task to do, I would rather do it ourselves than let some Brigands claim the glory." she states, the Pyromancers behind her echoing her sentiments by saying "Jolly!" in unison.

Geralt "Fine, get your shields up and start advancing, we'll follow. If the arrows change targets to us then Ciaran and Sif should try and ambush them for a distraction. If that fails then set fire to the forest and retreat." he says after thinking a moment.

With that the Flame Guard leave the forest, their shields raised and protecting the Pyreblades, Pyromancers and Prospects behind them. Immediately the arrows stop and the Nekkers spot the group, a larger one wielding a rusty sword pointing at them and gurgling something. The red clay decorating it's face marks itself as the leader of the Warband.

Seemingly having forgotten that they were just under fire they charge the group, crude weaponry ready to strike against the tower shields, though with Iron skin the little creatures stood no chance of moving them an inch.

Realising that trying to break through a literally wall of iron and steel wasn't going to work they start coming around the sides, only to be confronted by the Pyreblades, Prospects, Witchers and everyone else present.

The little creatures were clearly stronger than your average Nekker but still stood no chance against an organised unit, especially those that had Hundreds, if not thousands of years of experience in combat.

Geralt football kicks one Nekker as it tries to stab him in the thigh, the creature rolling to a stop a few meters away, it's body broken and bleeding from the kick alone. He looks ahead and spots the leader shouting what sounds like commands at the Warband and decides to take it out to make clearing the rest easier. He casts a wide range Igni to distract the group in-front of him while sprinting past them, surprisingly the Nekker manages to dodge the first strike and parry the other... However a feint proves too difficult for the creature to interpret, allowing Geralt to bisect it.

The rest of the battle wasn't difficult in the slightest, the Nekkers trying to escape after the leader was cut down but was forced to stay in close range to the group due to the huge variety of Pyromancies fired at their backs.

One of the most surprising things was an ability Ciri displayed, having to no longer restraint her abilities she's using techniques that Avallac'h had taught her before his "unfortunate" end. Channeling in as single spot for a moment allows her to deal a barrage of strikes at a large group in a short amount of time. The only thing stopping this move from being overwhelmingly powerful was her own strength, speed, and reserves... Something that a certain other person didn't have issues with.

Once the group was done dealing with the Nekkers Ciaran and Sif walk int the clearing, them no longer expecting the people in the forest to be shooting arrows at them.

Ciaran "I tried to circle around and get some information on them, but they're incredibly well versed at hiding in the forest. Similar to another group I despised.