Ah, bullocks!

Not only was Danyr taken out for the count, but there was no way Daniel could break Komodo's wrist. Well that just rightly sucked.

Next best thing? Fingers. Rather than jabbing him hard in the wrist, Daniel drew Komodo's hand back however briefly and devoted a good punch to loose fingers. It didn't much matter if he'd gotten any significant damage out of the deal or not; chances were that Komodo would be sans use in a few fingers, but the fact of the matter was that Daniel wasn't going to leave that opportunity go unrealized; some damage was getting out there.

Daniel pushed Komodo's hand out in time for the man's right hand to come around. Daniel reacted quick, in what might have looked like trained precision, to step in a foot closer and bat Komodo's arm away in all its momentum at the inside of the man's elbow, force it out hard, harmlessly so, letting Daniel into the confined of Komodo's guard, and devote his other fist to a hard blow for the man's face.

He'd full intentions on busting something on Komodo's face--either his nose, his teeth, his jaw, or if he was really unlucky, Daniel would get him in the throat. Provided he had this moment inside Komodo's guard, Daniel'd take the opportunity for a melee: use his other hand to bash him in the solar plexus instead, do it again, string together a few one-two's to the throat and face, beat the skin off 'em 'til he stepped back and had Daniel outside his guard again.

Danyr wasn't out of commission, just down momentarily. And he quickly pulled himself up, just for most things to go red. Where Komodo had hit his right temple, it was now pouring blood down his face and into his eye. And as he stood, he seemed a little... Off. A little wobbly and a little fuzzy-headed. And not just from the blood loss, it seemed. Danyr knew that he shouldn't be feeling that so early...

Komodo's right hand, on receiving Daniel's punch, went mostly loose. There was a slight popping sound as his index and middle finger seemed to dislocate under the blow, but Komodo wasn't slowed in any case. With his hands temporarily out of middle of the combat, Komodo went a different way: jumping. As Daniel closed for his face, Komodo leapt into the air, perhaps a foot and a half, which would bring Daniel's impact point to the center of Komodo's chest, which was protected by armor. As he jumped, as well, he would kick forward with one of his heavy boots, aimed at Daniel's left knee, in a position where it was difficult to see what was happening due to the close proximity. Both impacts were going to throw Komodo's balance off somewhat, but he needed to clear a bit of space between them...

The kick to Daniel's knee almost made the boy crumple, but he'd a heart of a lion when it came to Zera--and Komodo had something to do with her being there, this much Daniel was sure of.

So it went without saying that Daniel wasn't going to let Komodo go.

He almost crumpled, but instead, he pushed with his good leg for Komodo as the man went back, still within the man's guard, hand shooting up, fist grabbing for Komodo's collar. The man, ready to land at that point, would be drawn into Daniel suddenly, dragged out of his backward momentum and tugged ahead, perhaps thrown off balance even more, but that wasn't the worst of it. The real problem would be what Daniel was pulling Komodo into: an upward headbutt into Komodo's jaw, thrown with all the might Daniel could with his upper body and one leg--as one wasn't doing too hot for the time being.

Daniel wasn't going to have a followup after this one, though. No queued or stocked attacks or any of it. This was going to hurt him, much less than it was going to harm Komodo's body, but it'd hurt Daniel nonetheless. He'd need a moment to recover, but that was fine. It was only going to be a half second or second pause, really. Chances were it'd even out, though. Feeling pain or not, a headbutt to the jaw was enough to make anyone pause at length.

Likely, Daniel was going to have a headache for awhile--but if all went well, Komodo was going to be sans several of his front teeth, part of his tongue if his mouth was open at the time, and/or come out of the deal with a very broken jaw. If ever there was a case of "you should see the other guy" to rule all others, this would be it.

Komodo wasn't expecting such a move from Daniel: he had perhaps underestimated him. There was little he could do, except place his hands in front of his face, almost in a praying position, to block a bit of the attack. Still, he took the majority of the blow head on, stumbling backwards, and even wobbling on his feet. Nothing appeared to be broken, but the right side of his jaw bore the beginning of a deep bruise, and his sunglasses were even knocked crooked...

Danyr, standing, suddenly found himself wobbling, too, and started to lunge forward a bit as if he was about to pass out... Which, strictly speaking, he was... And Daniel would likely feel the two razor-like cuts along the crown of his head, where he had hit Komodo's hands while leaping. Danyr had a good idea what was happening, though...

"He likes to use poison... But he always carries an... Antidote..."

Danyr fell forward as he spoke, the poison seeming to take an effect. Daniel, likely, had been poisoned, too... And he would soon start to feel the effects as well. Komodo, still wobbling on his feet, with his own vision fading in an out, reached down into his left pocket, pulling out a small blue vial. His leg was bleeding pretty profusely as well...

"You'll probably want this..."

Komodo threw the vial over a boulder, hobbling away in the other direction, to regroup or for any other purpose. Daniel had something of a choice to make...

Well this was a serious predicament. He'd never really had this problem before. Save his friend's life or pursue the guy that could lead to saving his other friend's life? Of course, it wasn't so bad; perhaps they could catch up with Komodo later and finish this battle of theirs. But still, he had every want to just grab that chakram-blade sticking out of the ground and head for Komodo--beat the piss out of him and come back to help Danyr out with this antidote thing that Komodo tossed away somewhere. Daniel had every belief that he'd be able to pull it off. The problem was that he didn't know how long Danyr would last. Daniel himself had no idea how long he'd last, just the hope that he could put a massive dent in the situation here before he'd need to take an antidote break.

He had to help his friend before anything else.

The poison wasn't really what was getting at him right now. And it probably wouldn't for at least a few minutes. If his heart would quit racing, that is. What was really making life difficult for Daniel at the moment was his knee and the pain in his skull he had from headbutting just about anything in general.

"Hang on, Danyr . . ." Daniel demanded softly, just above a whisper, as he started in a direction vastly different from Komodo's route of escape.

Daniel limped around the boulder, passing by his newfound weapon, and going for the vial tossed away by Komodo. Hopefully this maze of rocks wasn't going to get in the way . . .

Fortunately, Daniel would find the vial after just a minute, thankfully having landed in a relatively soft patch of dirt among several smaller rocks. His racing heart, as opposed to making him more resistant to poison, would serve to make it circulate through his body more quickly and reach its target areas...

As he returned, he would start to feel the effects, if not as strongly as Danyr. Fortunately, he had been cut on the top of his head, rather than across his temple, and the darkness that would start to encroach on his vision would be only a minor inconvenience for a short time...

When he found the vial, Daniel picked it up hastily and returned to the other side of the boulder. It was probably best if he didn't alert any hybrids during this.

By they time he returned to Danyr, though, Daniel was beginning to realize just how shaky he was on his feet. It now had less to do with his headache and knee ache. The poison. Shit. That was it. Danyr was right. And moving around so much, Daniel was just making it worse. He wasted no time in collapsing next to Danyr--but despite this, opted to hand the vial over to his friend first. It was more important that Danyr survived that he, after all . . .

"Oi . . . this it . . .?" Daniel asked as he handed the vial off to Danyr.

He hadn't the slightest clue what the hell the thing was. Komodo just said something about it being necessary for them and threw it off somewhere. Daniel could only guess it was the antidote that Danyr was talking about. Well, hopefully. Komodo didn't see the most trustworthy person and all--but unless Danyr doubted it, Daniel was more than willing to take the thing.

Danyr took the vial with shaky hands, pulling the cap off it and pouring a small part of it on his tongue: less than half, really. He then carefully set it on the ground in front of his face so Daniel could grab it, as he didn't trust his fingers to hand the thing to his friend. He closed his eyes for a moment, his vision starting to return to normal, and the intense nausea fading away.

"It's the right thing. Komodo wouldn't have kept the real thing on him... If you'd gone after him, you'd have collapsed before you could find the antidote. That's just what he does..."

Danyr rolled over onto his back slowly, his body returning to normal gradually. Komodo used some of the strongest poisons in the world, really... But he was smart enough to know that you couldn't use poison without occasionally infecting yourself... Since his heart rate never really increased that much, Komodo had more time before poisons affected him, but he always carried antidote...

"Thanks."

Danyr was grateful they had survived an encounter with his brother, all thanks to Daniel's determination...

"Hey, no sweat; s'whot friends are for, roigh'?" Daniel replied smilingly, despite the onset of weakness that rather suddenly demanded unwilled lethargy. He nonetheless had no doubt that Danyr would have done the same for him were Daniel in dire trouble like that.

Not knowing how much he should take, Daniel drank the rest of the antidote. It looked like Danyr drank about half, so it made sense enough.

He had no idea when it'd start to kick in, but decided to lay on his back like Danyr until it did. The way they lay were opposite to each other, the side of Danyr's head just a foot away from the side of Daniel's head, yet their bodies lay in different directions from the other.

Daniel gazed into the sky as he waited and felt the numbness escaping his extremities and the odd redness fading from his vision. It was only then that the could see the sky--the dark, cloud ridden sky. It was so similar to the last place they'd been to, the City of Shadows. It was no wonder he mistook the cities for each other--but was this it? Was that all there was to this world? A neverending storm covering a neverending darkness?

"Well . . . crap," Daniel groaned, "Now whot?"

Danyr laid back, looking at the sky, thinking of what they had to do next. Komodo had been quite an impediment... It would take him quite a while to restring his bow, once they were ready to move again. They were close, though... It was curious. Danyr couldn't help but wonder if Komodo was working with these things, or was just in the same vicinity...

"We continue. We beat him once, and we can beat him again if we have to..."

More importantly, they knew Komodo was here, now. Who else was somewhat harder to say, though... Komodo rarely worked alone. People were drawn to him, it seemed... When you were doing terrible things, it could only help to have someone who wouldn't judge you for anything moral...

"And we even know where to go, now. The way out is in the first tower. If Komodo is here, we know Zera is in the second tower. He never believed in concentrated force. He'd make us travel, especially since we'd have to protect her on the way to the tower portal..."

Danyr, from what Daniel had told him, still didn't realize that the tower portal required someone to stay behind... Daniel had neglected to mention that. He had a certain amount of craftiness to him...

"Sounds loike a plan," Daniel nodded, "Remoin' me not to throw my only weapon next toime, though. That was a real shoddy idea."

He sat up once he felt a bit better. Not so lightheaded. Not so weak. He could feel his extremities again, and that was a good sign.

"'ow are we gettin' to it, then?" Daniel asked, not quite to complain, but simply out of curiosity. "Are we going the sneaky way or the direct way?"

It went without saying what the "direct" way entailed. That, Daniel would have excelled at. Running in swords blazing. That was his kind of style. Danyr, on the other hand, was better with the sneaky route, but not so much the other. Daniel always needed a bit of help when trying to be sneaky, and Danyr probably needed help when trying to just roll right through it all.

Daniel wasn't partial to either, though, and it all really depended on Danyr. Daniel was going to be an asset when it came to navigating the city either way, though.

"Daniel, there is a practical army, as well as my brother and any number of other, intelligent people. And we don't even know who is in charge. And there's the possibility that..."

Well, Danyr wouldn't put it past Komodo to kill Zera if they were to get close to rescuing her, just because. The sneaky way, as Daniel put it, seemed the obvious choice to him...

"My bow is destroyed, anyway. It's going to take me a long time to fix it..."

Standing up, Danyr made it clear he wasn't intending to stick around and fix it, though. Really, Daniel would be able to see how complex and difficult the thing was: there were at least three pulleys on each end of the bow, it seemed, and the bow had lost all its tension. Really, it might have been impossible to fix without some sort of specialized workshop...

"Town's only a little bit away..."

The sneaky way it would have to be, then. That was fine, but they both needed to be able to protect themselves well and take out foes quickly. Without Danyr's bow, that kind of made things difficult. Daniel pushed himself to his feet, and without a second thought, retrieved the chakram-blade he recently obtained. He started for Danyr shortly after giving it a look over.

"Well . . . 'ere," Daniel jabbed the end of the blade into the ground, just a foot in front of Danyr. "Take this. At least 'til you find something better."

Daniel could get by with his bare hands. He was almost as useful without a weapon as he was with one. Of course, he was better off with a sword, especially these kinds of swords, but he when it came down to a fist-fight, Daniel better off than Danyr. So between the two, the one who needed a weapon more was Danyr.

It helped that this was a pretty extraordinary weapon, too. With it, Daniel could have probably taken Komodo. It would've just taken a few hits on the man's gauntlets before that shielding ceased to matter. A vibrating, singing blade; its cut was superior to all others, and would build with tenacity with each strike. The stronger it vibrated, the harder it was to hold--but the easier it was to cut through . . . well, anything. Cloth. Skin. Leather. Metal. Bone. The difficulty in holding the blade would've been offset were it a two handed sword, though like all of Daniel's chakram-blades, it was a single handed blade. Holding it two handed would risk the wielder cutting his hand upon the chakram-like weaponized hand guard.

"It should expire here in a minute or two, oI think," Daniel said as an afterthought.

In his experiences, these blades usually remained out and active for a fair half an hour to an hour, though he recalled one that lasted only five minutes, and simply wouldn't activate again for a fair while. Daniel hoped this one wasn't like that. Then again, that one was absurdly powerful, and this one seemed to only do one thing right: attack. It didn't feel like something that would hold up too well in terms of blocking and such. At the very least, the vibrations paired with the physical force of another person/thing's blow would just rip it out of his hand after two or three blocks.

"Whenever you need it, just hand it my way; oI'll call it out again."

Danyr shook his head when Daniel offered him the weapon, really not even sure what he would do with it. Importantly, it made no sense for Danyr to keep the coin to give it back to Daniel, and in any case, if they got involved in a close fight with several of these things, Danyr was pretty sure they were going to die anyway...

"You can use those things a lot better than I can."

The sheer unwieldiness of Daniel's weapons was another concern for Danyr. His weapons all seemed so strange, and he didn't really trust them... Daniel was enough of a storm, anyway. He always managed to get by...

"Once we get into town, it'll be a lot harder for them to find us. You ready?"

Attaching the destrung bow to his back, Danyr stood, listening to the people moving around. This was something he was better suited to. Even guiding Daniel around, he was more skilled at collecting information than anything else... Especially when so much was on the line...

These swords weren't actually too difficult to use. Honestly, it was just a matter of holding them right: hilt in hand and chakram set against the lower forearm, just above the wrist. It was a practical bracing and control method which only risked a few minor flesh wounds on the forearm and wrist in the presence of excessive battle. That was easily patched up, and even easier to avoid when in possession of gauntlets or bracers of any kind. Danyr was already kind of equipped to wield one of these swords--even moreso than Daniel was. Maybe Daniel was a better swordsman, possibly, but he hadn't a thing to guard his arms at all. His only solace was that his clothes were usually pretty thick, at least in the area of his wrists.

"Well . . ." Daniel shrugged.

He took it back and claimed it for now. If Danyr and he were to come across another coin like this, Daniel figured that he'd have to release it and give one or the other to Danyr, just so they were equally equipped. For now, though, this one would do--and this meant that he'd have to save Danyr's ass if they ever got into a big skirmish.

"Lead the way," Daniel suggested without even the vaguest hints of disapproval or disappointment.