OOC Discussion

Xandak's concerns for the outcome of the battle eased up a bit when he managed to land two solid blows on the bugbear. Allowing himself to use the sword might have been a good idea after all. His confidence growing, he braced himself for Bruthzamus' retaliation.

...but he didn't brace himself enough.

The first hit connected solidly with his shoulder, shattering the joint and causing him to lose all control over the limb, letting the sword drop to the floor with a clang. Xandak stumbled backwards a bit and dropped to one knee, his upper body exploding in pain and his vision beginning to swim.
The second hit him right in the chest, causing most of his ribs to break, and puncturing several internal organs. He flew backward, tumbling across the floor several times before coming to a stop in a broken heap.

In the few brief seconds he still lived, his sight gave way to a vision of himself as a young boy, standing in the sacked house he had called his home, staring in disbelief at the corpses of his family in the wake of the giant raid. He heard himself swear vengeance on the attackers, through blind rage and hot tears. But soon this image faded away into nothingness as well. Faced with the overwhelming knowledge that he would never be able to fulfill that promise of vengeance, Xandak's mouth opened and he uttered a strained sentence as he stared into nothingness, the first words he had spoken out loud since taking up his vows in the House of Blue Stones:

"I'm... sorry."

And with that, Xandak Alaertos, champion of Irori, breathed his last.