Conlan's tactic of calling out to the darkspawn appeared to work, as they came charging toward him. The first one came charging forward, swinging a haggard sword at his left side. Conlan pushed his shoulder into blocking the blow and rang off of his shield. He could barely tell where the monsters skin ended and its armor began, but under the arm was usually a weak point. He thrusted his sword into it's arm pit, and the tip of it sink in. Conlan realized his opponent wasn't dead, but surely he would be easy prey for any nearby flickering red headed shadows.
And that was the last complete movement Conlan made before they were pressed in so close he could barely move his arms. He yanked the sword free from his first attacker, and lacking the room to swing, slammed the pommel of his weapon into the eye socket of the attacker on his right. The creature fell backwards, holding his face. This of course left Conlan open, and the next 'spawn in line swung an axe toward his midsection. Con had barely enough time to twist slightly to avoid taking the absolute full brunt of it.
The axe blade dented his armor, and he felt a sudden stabbing ache. The weapon may not have broken skin but Conlan at least had a bruised rib now. Adrenaline kept him from blacking out for the moment, and instead he snapped his arm down on the axe to keep it close to his body. He stepped backwards, and pushed his shield forward, forcing the darkspawn to drop its axe. Con stepped back again, raising his arm to let the axe fall to the ground. He began to cough, sending an aching sensation through his chest, and he fell back behind his shield to prepare for the next onslaught.
Said onslaught didn't come however. Suddenly all the darkspawn around him froze in place. He blinked in curiosity, unsure of what just happened. He didn't have much time to contemplate, as it turned out, only most of them were frozen. One of them began to move, and gripped the rim of Conlan's shield. He yanked it down to get a clear shot, and Con took the opportunity and then sudden space to jam his sword into the darkspawns mouth. That one at least he knew was definitely dead.
But the stab opened him on the non shield side, and it appeared the darkspawn recently deprived of an axe was also not frozen. Lacking a weapon he grabbed Conlan's bare arm and sank his teeth into Con's bicep. Conlan let out a snarl, and snaked his leg behind the ankle of the biting spawn. He twisted in place, causing the creature to fall. Con pulled his sword free from the body it was stuck in, and swiped at the biter, slashing him across the face, but in no way taking him out of the fight. Several quick thumps nearby, and Conlan noticed arrows sticking out of the back of the paralyzed darkspawn. He recognized the fletching as the arrows Lalin had made. It seemed like so long ago when they had speculated on fighting against the darkspawn. He prayed that this had been enough to keep them off of her, as he had promised.
Con backed up, it hurt to lift his sword arm, and he could have sworn the blood coming from the wound was turning black. Every breath caused his chest to ache, and his eyelids were heavy. Nearby he heard the sound of gutteral laughter, and saw a large darkspawn in full armor, with two long horns sticking out of either side of his helmet. He carried what looked like a jagged blade stuck to the end of a gnarled stick. On the ground, the slashed biter was retrieving his axe.
Con let out a slow, and painful breath. He was starting to think summoning the darkspawn over might not have been the best idea.